Club Killer
by your royal highness
Summary: A man is linked to several homicides over the past couple of months, all involving brown-haired ladies who attend a night club regularly. Ziva must go undercover and catch the killer, but, as Tony starts realizing his feelings, will disaster strike? Tiva
1. Night Club

Ziva David smiled as she finished off the last of her Mojito at the bar inside of the club lounge. She turned and stared at the bodies that were dancing across the floor, jumping up and down and moving their hips together to the beat of the music that was playing. The rather attractive lady next to her stood up and started giggling with a man as they both walked out of the club. She smiled. That girl was lucky tonight, he was very attractive…

"Sweetcheeks," She heard a familiar voice coo in her ear. She smiled as she leant back against his touch, "I love this song. Dance with me?" She turned and took his hand, feeling a little tipsy, but not much.

"Of course." She smiled before he led her into the middle of the dance floor. She put her arms on his shoulders and started swinging her hips to the beat of the music.

"Come on, Zi, I know you can do better than that."

"Shut up, my little hairy butt, I am just heating up."

"Warming. The term is warming."

"Same difference." She put her head up close to his ear, "Dance," She whispered, "Match my hips."

Sweat started pouring down Anthony DiNozzo's face as he gave a shaky smile before finally getting into the beat and moving with her. They were as close to each other as they could possibly be; their noses were almost touching as she felt his hands cautiously move to her hips. She smiled, "Do not be nervous."

Their movements started to heat up as Ziva let a small smile crawl to her face, "I never knew you could dance." her partner commented, and she laughed a little, moving her face dangerously close to his.

"You never asked." They caught their breath for a moment, and the room seemed to have fallen silent as they realized just how close they were, just how right everything felt. Tony carefully bent his chin up so his lips could meet hers as a vibrate was felt in Tony's pants pocket. He broke away from his partner, fumbling for his phone as he took her hand in his, leading her off of the dance floor so that he could hear whoever the hell was….Gibbs.

"Yeah, DiNozzo." Tony said into the floor as they stopped in the corner of the night club.

"DiNozzo. We got a case. Dead navy lieutenant in Silver Spring. Get back to headquarters. Pick up David on the way."

Tony sighed, "But boss it's our-" But Tony realized that Gibbs had already hung up on him, "Day off."

"Gibbs?" Ziva asked as a rather good-looking man walked by and smiled at Ziva before stopping and walking back to where she was standing.

"Would you mind if I bought you-"

"Yes. I would. I am here on a date, I do not think that that would be very kind." Ziva spat, sharing a glance with Tony, who was already glaring at him. Ziva smirked, "I would suggest you walk away. Quickly."

Tony glared him off as he quickly moved, "Come on. We gotta case."

"Ah. I see. Can we stop by my apartment on the way to NCIS to change?"

"No time. Let's go." He said, pulling her out of the night club, making sure to keep a hold of her at all times; the club was packed more than normal, however, it was in fact a winter Friday night. She shivered as they walked towards the Mustang, her heels resounding off of the ground and into the night. He opened up the door for her, and she got in, wiping some sweat off of her face as he closed the door and walked around to the driver's side of the car, "Gibbs always picks the best times to call me." Tony muttered as he place the key into the ignition and started the car.

"No, Tony, I think you mean that the people who murder other people choose the best times to kill other people, yes?"

Tony laughed, "That made no sense." She laughed with him as they continued down the road to the Navy Yard. As they got to the entrance, the guard demanded for some ID and Tony groaned, furiously searching for his badge. He finally found it shoved in a slot under the radio and he handed it to the guard, who nodded and gave it back after confirming his identification.

"Ma'am? ID."She groaned and pulled out her ID from her bosom, which amazed Tony, and handed it to the woman.

"Thank you. Pop the trunk." She handed Ziva her ID back as Tony popped the trunk. Once they were finished searching, and they were allowed to go, they knew that Gibbs was going to kill them.

As they got out of the car and into the garage, other NCIS agents were leaving. Ziva felt exposed in her 'hooker' dress, and several agents of both the male and the female sex stared impolitely after her as they quickly hurried into the elevator. Tony was dressed in a formal suit, much formal than one he would have worn to work, and Ziva…well Ziva…she was, as Tony had said 'a goddess.'

She was wearing her hair down and straight, with expensive looking diamond earrings. She wore a short, blue dress that hugged her curves, stopping right under her butt. They back cut down to right above her butt, and it was a v-neck halter with silver cuffs on the strings of the halter as well as a silver, diamond pendant from the top of the v-neck halfway down, clinching parts of the dress together. She shifted nervously as the doors opened as they stepped out. Ziva's high heels, almost three inches, made everyone turn their heads to stare at them both as they walked into the squadroom.

"Ah, you two are here. Great. Gibbs wants us to-" McGee started, but stopped as he looked up from his desk at Ziva and Tony, who were standing in the middle of the entrance to the bullpen, "Whoa. Ziva. W-W-W…"

Tony smiled at McGee's loss of words, "Aw come on, McPrude, haven't you ever seen a hot woman wearing in a club dress?" Tony asked as he slipped off the jacket of his suit and slipping on his NCIS special agent jacket, gearing up.

"Well I…I have Tony. It's just…j…just that Z-Ziva is…well…"

"Thank you, McGee." Ziva smiled, trying to get McGee to feel less uncomfortable. He sighed in relief.

"Yeah, okay. So…you two went clubbing?"

"Yes, we did, McGee. Only made it to one club though, 'cause I got the call we had to be here."

"And you still do. Gear up, let's go. DiNozzo, Da-" Gibbs stopped as he looked up from putting his SIG in place on his right hip, "Ziva." Gibbs said in an almost disapproving tone, "What are you wearing?"

"A dress." She simply stated, flashing Tony a seductive smile.

"Well I can see that." Gibbs said, changing his tone as if Ziva had responded stupidly to the question, "Why are you wearing it?"

"Tony and I went clubbing, Gibbs." Ziva said, and Gibbs rolled his eyes, grabbing the coffee off of his desk as he walked over and promptly whacked Tony on the back of the head.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Looking at your partner like she's something eat. Now let's move it, the body sure as hell isn't going anywhere!" They all hurried out of the bullpen, but Gibbs stopped Ziva by placing a hand on her shoulder, "Ziva."

"Gibbs." She acknowledged.

"Those shoes?" He asked, pointing down to them, "At a crime scene?""I do not have any others, Gibbs."

He rolled his eyes and then gently gave her a smack upside the head, "Think before you wear those again, will ya? Now let's move. We've got a crime scene to handle." He said as he started walking away, towards the closing elevator doors as Ziva threw on her NCIS jacket and jumped in just as the doors were sealing shut.

**Review? Oh, and the link to the dress that Ziva's wearing is going to be posted at the top of my profile! Enjoy! Review! **


	2. Silver Springs

"You can not be serious, Gibbs." Ziva sighed as she stared down at where the body was located. The body, which was unidentifiable as a male or a female from where they were standing was situated in a sand trap in the golf course at Silver Springs.

"DiNozzo, sketch. McGee, photos. Ziva, bag and tag." Gibbs smirked as Tony laughed.

"Gibbs, please!"

"Are you complaining, Officer David?"

She sighed, "I will get to it. Tony. Pass me those evidence bags."

"Sure thing." He said, reaching into the truck and chucking them at her. She barely caught them and she muttered a 'Thanks' before McGee walked over and handed her the flashlight.

"Sorry, Ziva. You wanna take photos while I bag and tag?"

"No!" Gibbs replied, who was talking to the grounds keeper, who found the body.

"How can he hear us?" Tony asked as the three walked towards the sand trap.

"Do not ask me, Tony." Ziva said, who looked the oddest out of all of them. Tony, however, thought she looked beautiful. Even though she was wearing her NCIS jacket over her club dress, he found her insanely attractive. Even more attractive than normal. She walked faster than him, and he was able to get a nice look at her ass as she walked in front of him. McGee noticed this and smiled.

"Like Ziva's ass, DiNozzo?" Tony quickly looked up as Ziva spun around on her heel.

"What are you talkin' about, Probie?" Tony asked, walking faster to get in front of her.

"You were checking out her ass, Tony. I saw you."

"I was not, McPeek. Shut up."

"You were, were you, Tony?" Ziva asked, smirking, "I'll remember that." She smiled, her eyes looking him up and down.

Tony felt flustered, "Listen, _Zee-vah, _I wasn't checkin' out your ass. I was just…looking at how nice your legs looked. You got nice legs, you know that? You should wear dresses more often."

Ziva shook her head, "Sure, Tony." They finally made it to the sand trap, and McGee shined his flashlight on the body. The red blood stained the white sand, and Ziva stopped short as Tony and McGee continued into the sand trap.

"You know what this reminds me of, Probie?"

"A movie?" McGee asked tiredly.

"Naw, that one case we had where that guy was playing golf and he got blown up...remember that?"

"Yeah, I remember, Tony." McGee said, taking a picture.

"You comin', Zi?" Tony asked, switching his focus to his partner as he pulled out a pen and started sketching. He glanced up and her and then back down at his paper before looking back up at her again, "Ziva? You all right? You looked like you just saw a ghost."

"I have seen this woman before." She said, pointing to the dead brunette as she started to walk towards Tony.

"Where? Online dating service?" Tony joked, smiling at McGee, who just rolled his eyes and took a snap.

"No…I think…she was the woman that was sitting next to me at the bar…in the night club!"

Tony furrowed his eyebrows together, "You sure, Ziva?"

"Yes, I am sure! Positive. I remember the yellow dress…" Tony was about to say something when he saw Gibbs walking towards them.

"Uh, you wanna start sketching? Gibbs is on your eight and he looks pissed.""I'm not pissed, DiNozzo!" Gibbs shouted from half-way across the golf course.

"Never said you were, boss! Where'd you hear that?" Tony shouted back before quickly finishing up his sketch, "Wanna start, Ziva?"

She turned around just as Gibbs stopped next to them, "Gibbs." She said.

"Ziva." Gibbs nodded, "What?""I have something to tell you…"

"You pregnant?"

"No…"

"Engaged?"

"Gibbs…"

"I knew it." He said, and walked over and promptly whacked Tony on the back of the head before walking back over and getting ready to smack Ziva when she put her hands up in protest.

"I am not engaged! Gibbs, I have seen this woman before." She said, pointing to the body.

"Where?"

"Night club. Tonight. She was sitting next to me at the bar."

"ID?"

"I do not know, I did not catch that. It was loud in the club, with the music and all…"

"DiNozzo."

"Yeah, boss?"

"You get the ID of the woman?"

"Yup." Tony said, snapping on gloves and reaching into the woman's purse, which was under her body, and pulling out her wallet, which revealed her navy ID, "Name's Amy Lee. Active navy lieutenant."

"Bag it. Get it back to Abby for tests. McGee, when we get back to HQ, I want you to run a background test on her. Wanna know everything about her."

"On it boss."Gibbs checked his watch, "DiNozzo, when you're done sketching, help Ziva. McGee, get back to the truck, start packing things up when you're done taking photos. Ducky should be here any moment. When he gets here, leave the body to him."

Ziva started walking around the body, bagging the wallet after McGee took a snap. She shined the flashlight under the body, bending down in front of Tony as she did so, who started checking out her ass…again. This time, fortunately for him, McGee didn't say anything.

"McGee!" She called, bending over more, so that Tony could determine that Ziva was, in fact, not wearing underwear. McGee walked over and took a picture of the handle of a knife that was under the body. She pulled out a bloody knife and stood up fully, much to her partner's protest, and she bagged it, "I think we just found our murder weapon," She commented, holding up the evidence bag as the flashing of headlights came their way. All three agents turned to see the ME's truck pull up and onto the golf course, riding over the grass and parking in front of the sand trap.

"Good evening, Anthony, Ziva, Timothy!" Ducky said as he got out of the truck, followed by Jimmy as they walked around to the back of the truck and opened it up. They both reappeared, Jimmy with the medical bag in hand, holding it for the agents to see.

"Oh, poor girl." Ducky said, shaking his head as he stared at the brunette, whom McGee was shining his flashlight onto, "It is a shame to see someone so young die so brutally. Mr. Palmer, would you mind fetching me some gloves?"

"Sure thing, Doctor Mallard." Jimmy said as he started to open up the bag and pull out the gloves. He stood up and gave them to the doctor, who started putting them on, when Palmer caught sight of Ziva, "Ziva…sorry…didn't mean to stare but…wow…you look…great." He gave a shaky laugh. She smiled as Tony rolled his eyes. Ducky looked up at Ziva and nodded in agreement as he took in the sight of the Mossad Liaison officer.

"I agree with Mr. Palmer. You do look stunning, my lady."

"Thank you, Ducky." Ziva smiled at the ME.

"Of course, my dear! However, I am still very surprised that Agent DiNozzo has not said anything about your…choice of attire this evening." Ducky said as he bent down to look at the body, pulling back her brown hair, revealing a nasty bruise on the side of her neck, near her shoulder.

"Tony was my date this evening, Ducky." Ziva smiled, and silence Tony, who was about to protest.

"I see." He responded, "Ziva, could you come here for a moment?"

Ziva started towards the ME, but got her three inch heel stuck in the sand as she started to wobble. Two hands wrapped around her as she fell backwards into his arms, "Gotcha, Zi." He whispered into her ear, and he hoisted her up so that she was standing straight up again.

"Let go, Tony." She said as she noticed the stares of the three other men, "Let go of me. I am…_fine._" On the word 'fine' she shoved herself out of his arms and bent down next to the ME, who had a brilliant smile on his face.

"Tell me, Ziva, what does this mark mean to you?" He asked, pointing a gloved finger at the bruise.

"It was definitely not fatal." She commented, "However, with enough force, it could render the victim unconscious. Very tactical method."

"Mr. Palmer," Ducky said, "Time of death, please."

"Right away, doctor." He said, grabbing the liver probe from out of the bag and moving towards the body, sticking it in.

"Whatcha got, Duck?" Gibbs asked as he appeared behind McGee.

"The woman was rendered unconscious with a blow to side of the neck before brutally stabbed in the chest to death."

"TOD?"

"Mr. Palmer?" Ducky asked as the liver probe beeped.

"About an hour ago, maybe two."

"Matches up to the when the woman I saw in the bar left."

"How far is the night club from Silver Springs?"

"I'd say about ten, fifteen minutes max." Tony butted in, "NCIS is about twenty."

"I am afraid that there is nothing else I can determine with the body right now, Jethro. Nothing more can be done until I get her back to autopsy, but, from the way that she is situated, I have a bet that she may have been raped. I will need to test that when we get back, but that is all that I can tell right now."

"Great. Get the gurney and get her back then. McGee, when we get back, run background on her. I wanna know everything. DiNozzo, help McGee. Bank records. Family, closest relatives first." He turned to Ziva, "Ziva." He pointed down to her feet, "Change those shoes. Let's move it. Come on, let's go!"

**Not very exciting, I know. Mainly just details on the case. Review? I promise you the next chapter will have more action. **


	3. Amy Lee

Ziva David threw her backpack down next to her desk before plopping down in her seat. She leant down and un-did her shoes before getting up and placing them on Gibb's desk. She smiled at herself. Gibbs had wanted her to take off her shoes…She turned around and grinned at both Tony and McGee, who were perplexed, as she walked towards Tony's desk, where he was just sitting down in his chair.

"Need help?" Ziva asked, "I have done my job."

"Hey, how come you never ask me for help?" McGee asked, feigning sadness.

"Oh, McGee I am sorry I just…"

"She just likes me better, Pro-bay, get over it, McWaterworks."

"I'm not crying, Tony."

"I'm not crying, Tony." He mimicked as McGee sent him a death glare.

"Do you want help or not, DiNozzo?" Ziva demanded, placing a hand on her left hip.

"Sure, always need help." He flashed her his famous 'DiNozzo' smile as she rolled her eyes, but let a smile cross her visage. She leaned up against the table behind his desk and watched him open up a search engine.

"Got it!" McGee yelled just as Tony, with his 'chicken scratch' of typing, had typed in 'A'

"Who is she, McGee?" Ziva asked as she walked over to his desk, placing a hand on the back of his chair and leaning over to see what he was looking at.

McGee looked up at Ziva, who just smiled, and then his eyes shifted to Tony's glare. He gulped, "Uh…I'm gonna put it on the plasma, Ziva."

She nodded, "I understand." She stood up straight and joined Tony in front of the plasma. They both crossed their arms at exactly the same time, while McGee stood up, the clicker in his hand. He pressed a button and her file came up.

"Amy Lee. 32. Caucasian female. Single. Attended University of Maryland. PHD in Psychology. Worked at a psychology in Tenleytown, northwest from here.""Criminal record, McGee?" Ziva asked.

"Completely clean."

"Or she hasn't gotten caught." Tony added.

"Yes, but why would she commit a crime? A bank robbery? I doubt it…she seems to be making a large sum of money." She noted as she read her monthly income.

"She could have killed someone."

"No." Ziva said, shaking her head, "No, Tony, she was very…look, I could just tell from her body language. She was very shy."

"And yet she left the bar with a man…" McGee contemplated, thinking aloud.

"Yes. She did."

"What night club did you two go to?"

"9:30 Club," Ziva responded, "The same man that Amy left with tried to come on to me, but I turned him off."

"Down, Ziva. The term is down." Tony corrected. While they were preoccupied, McGee went back to his desk and started dialing the number for the 9:30 club. She just turned and narrowed her eyes at him, "You have nothing better to do than to correct my English?"

"Hey, I was just sayin'." Tony defended himself. She started towards him, both hands on her hips as she ran him up against his desk, rendering him from going anywhere. She put her face close to his.

"What were you saying, Tony? Hmm?"

"That ever since you went on that week trip to Israel, your English has gotten worse."

"That's what I thought…" She murmured.

"Officer David. What in the world do you think you're doing?" All three agents turned to see Director Vance walking towards them, his eyebrow raised.

"Sorry, director. I was just telling Agent DiNozzo here, what better things he has to do than correcting my English."

"Hey! It's a reflex!"

They both stopped, relaxing as they remembered the last time they had fought.

"_It was a reflex!"_

"_Oh really? Well what happened after that? Last thing I remember before the lights went out was you kimbo-slicing through a room full of guards…was that a reflex?"_

"_Yes! It was! Gun shot went off! I saw YOU-" _

"McGee." Director Vance said as he let Ziva and Tony deal with whatever suddenly made their expressions soften; their gaze was locked on each other. McGee thanked the man on the phone and then hung up and looked up at the director, "Working on a case?"

"Yes sir, Director Vance, sir."

"Good. Where's Gibbs?"

"Uh…he's down in autopsy, I think, sir."

"Thank you, Agent McGee." He said, taking another glance back at Officer David and Agent DiNozzo before starting towards the elevator behind the stairs.

"Uh…you two okay?" McGee asked, and Ziva broke the stare at Tony by looking down.

"We are fine, McGee. What else do you have?"

"Hopefully answers, McGee." Gibbs said as he walked into the bullpen, emerging from the other elevator.

"Boss, Vance was looking for you."

"He can keep looking. Whatcha got for me?"

"Well let's see, Amy Lee's just your ordinary woman of the age of 32, except she's not married. Graduated from the University of Maryland with a PHD in psychology…however, I just got this from the night club Ziva said she saw the woman at."

"Which one?"

"9:30 Club."

"Largest dance floor in DC!" Tony bragged, and Ziva rolled her eyes.

"And…?"

"She's been there once every week. Always on Friday nights. But boss, there's something interesting. I've noticed a pattern. I've linked other murder cases found by the DC PD, and they were all brunettes who attend the 9:30 club regularly. If you match up the TOD's of the women, they all match up….boss, whoever is doing this is definitely targeting brunettes who are regulars at the club." He put up five other pictures of dead brunettes, each dressed in skimpy night club dresses, "Tracey Adams, Maddie Trey, Ashley Fitzgerald, Pauline Gretty, and Emily Matthews." He changed the picture for each woman, "Match up when they were found dead…" He pressed another button and turned to Gibbs, "One every two weeks. The PD has no lead. All killed in the same way, brutally stabbed in the chest. However, using a different knife. Each knife was stored underneath the body, just like Amy Lee, the one we found at Silver Springs. We're looking at a serial killer here, boss."

"Good job, McGee." Gibbs nodded, walking over to his desk and putting his SIG away before his desk phone started to ring. He picked it up, "Whatcha got for me, Duck?….be right there." He hung up the phone, "Ducky's got something." He said as he started for the elevator when he stopped. He picked up the shoes on his desk by the straps and then looked up at Ziva before giving a half-smile, "Hope you didn't spend too much money on these, David," He said before dumping them in the trash can and walking swiftly towards the elevator to autopsy.


	4. Rule Twelve

"Jethro! Good thing you're here!" Ducky said as he moved around the body that laid on the metal slab. Gibbs and his three agents walked into autopsy, awaiting what the ME had to say about Amy Lee.

"Whatcha got, Duck?" Gibbs spoke up."Well, the poor woman was obviously murdered with a stab into the thorax…multiple times…each stab was deep enough to cause extensive bleeding," He looked up at Gibbs, spreading his blood covered hands wide, "She bled to death."

"You didn't call me down just to tell me that, Duck."

He smiled, "You know me well, Jethro." He said as he continued his pace. Gibbs gave a half-smile as he watched the ME go to the legs of the victim, "I ran the rape test….and she was indeed raped. My calculations were correct. First, she was taken off guard, then raped…while she was being raped, to make sure that she did not…pull any alarms, she was knocked out with a swift punch in the cervical vertebrae and then stabbed in the chest repeatedly until the killer was sure his victim was dead. I managed to collect semen from inside of the woman's uterus, which I sent down to Abby to run DNA tests on."

"Thanks, Duck." And Jethro walked out. McGee followed, and then Tony, followed by Ziva, who was stopped by Ducky.

"Where are your shoes, dear Ziva?"She smiled as she looked down at her feet and then back up at Ducky, "Gibbs threw them away." She said as McGee called for her. She bid the medical examiner goodbye, and then hurried out of autopsy and into the elevator, right before the doors closed.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Gibbs!" Abby said in a sing-song voice. She spun around and pointed a finger at the silver haired boss. She then dropped it and let her serious expression change into a smiling one, "I knew it was you."Gibbs couldn't help but give her a half-smile back, "Sure you did, Abs. Got anything for me?"

"I have a yes, and a but." He just continued to stand there, "_Yes_, I have something, _but_ I don't know the results. The semen that Ducky extracted from Amy whatshername's body is still being eaten up and processed by Mr. Mass Spec," She said, patting her trusty machine, "But when I get…Ziva!" She gasped as she shoved past Gibbs and approached the Israeli, "Ziva…" She smiled, raising her eyebrows, "Where were _you_ tonight?" She asked, excited, "Take off the jacket! I wanna see!" Ziva rolled her eyes.

"Abby, is this really necessary?" She asked, as she shot a glare at Tony's amused look. She let the jacket slip to the ground, and she turned her around like a Barbie doll. She whistled, "Just who were _you_ trying to impress tonight?"

"Abby…" She hissed, and she could feel her cheeks heat up as she quickly pulled her jacket back on.

"She was on a date with me." Tony said, proudly, and Abby gave him a knowing smile as Gibbs' eyes narrowed at him. He spoke with his eyes to the both of them, and Ziva whacked Tony in the gut. She didn't want to endure a lecture from Gibbs.

"Anything else you got for me, Abs?" Gibbs asked as he finally turned away from his agents.

"Uh…nope. Sorry, bossman. That's all I have!" She stopped as she looked up at Gibbs with a puppy dog face, "Caf-Pow?" She asked, and Gibbs just gave her a half-smile.

"Once you find out whose semen that is, Abs."

She frowned as Gibbs started out of the lab, followed by Tony and Ziva. McGee stayed back. Once he knew that they were in the elevator and gone up to the squad room, he turned to Abby.

"McGee?" She asked, as she stared at the data processing on the computer. He put his hand on hers as she turned and looked at him.

"I'll get you a Caf-Pow, Abs."

Abby broke into a huge grin as she flung her arms around him, knocking him back a little before he returned her hug with a smile, "I love you, McGee!"

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"So McGee said that these five woman's murders all matched up on the same day, around the same time, every two weeks?" Ziva said from where she was sitting at her desk, looking over old case files that Gibbs had just slammed on their desks before running up the stairs to the Director's office.

"Yup." Tony said, who was doing the same as Ziva, from his desk, across the bullpen.

"And Washington PD could not locate a killer?" She asked, looking up at her partner.

"Nope." Ziva shook her head as she looked back down to read the case file for Tracey Adams. Tony looked up at her, and she occasionally glanced back up to meet his eyes, "Ziva, if you haven't noticed, Washington PD is a bunch of crap. It's bogus, they don't do anything."

Ziva smirked as she continued to read, not making eye contact with him, "Have a bad history with them, yes?"

"No, I don't, Zee-vah. But I'm starving, how about you? Pizza?"

"No one's getting pizza till we find out who killed our Lieutenant!" Gibbs said as he walked into the bullpen, snatching Tony's phone out of his hands and chucking it into the trashcan, where Ziva's shoes still sat.

"G-Gibbs!" Tony wined, but the boss ignored him.

"Ziva! Update!"She sighed as she walked over to Gibbs, holding Tracey Adams' case file in her hands, "I was reviewing the case files for the other murders that seemed to be linked to the same man who killed Amy Lee, and they were all killed the same way. However, there is one difference. They were all stabbed in the chest, but Lieutenant Lee was the only one who was raped."

"Why?"

"I…I do not know, Gibbs." He just stared at her, "I will find out."

"Better. DiNozzo!"

"Yeah, boss?"

"Find out anything?"

"You mean besides the fact I'm starvin' like Lee Marvin?" Gibbs didn't say anything, he just stared at him as Tony sighed in defeat, "I've got nothing."

"Well find out something!" he reached into his pocket and flipped out a twenty dollar bill; it landed on Tony's desk, "Pizza's on me," He said as he started out of the bullpen, "And once you two are finished eating, we're having a meeting. In my office."

"On what, boss?" Tony called after him.

"Rule Twelve, DiNozzo."

Tony sighed and sat down, "Rule twelve. Hate that rule." He muttered as he looked up at Ziva, who had a confused look on his face, "What?"

"What's rule twelve?"

"Never date a co-worker."

Ziva clamped her mouth shut before looking down at the case file, "Oh."

**I know it's short, and I know it's not that exciting, but I promise you that the next chapter, more stuff will happen...and Tony stands up to/yells at Gibbs! :D Yay! So review lots! The more reviews I get, the faster I update! Reviews=love!!**


	5. CafPow?

"Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!" Abby exclaimed, jumping up and down as the boss entered the forensic lab.

"Abby." He said as he calmly stood in front of her until she stopped jumping, "Whatcha got for me?"

"The semen results came in!" She boasted, walking over to the computer and punching a couple of buttons before a man's information popped up onto the screen, "Travis Davis. Funny name, right?"

"Yeah, it is!" Tony laughed as Gibbs just stared at him until he stopped. Ziva let out a laugh as Tony glared at her.

"Anyways. Besides him having a funny name, he was also arrested in 2000 for the possession of illegal drugs. In 2001, he was convicted of assault and battery, but he's been clean ever since. But…but!" She put her finger in the air for emphasis, "Guess where he works?" She asked, smiling widely at him. He just continued to stare at her, "Oh come on, Gibbs! Guess!" Again, he didn't say anything, "Not in the guessing mood, are we? That's fine." She sighed, "But be prepared for it next time!" She turned back to her computer, "So I researched where this guy worked and…he works at Silver Springs gold club! And where was our navy lieutenant found dead?"

"Silver Springs." Gibbs said, nodding as he stared at the computer.

"That's right! _And _he's the head caretaker. This guy definitely is our rapist." She smiled.

"Ad-"

She turned and quickly grabbed the purple sticky-note off of her desk and slapped it onto his forehead. Gibbs smiled as he looked up at it before removing it, "That's good work, Abs." He said, kissing her cheek before walking away.

"Gibbs!" She called as he stopped in the doorway, turning around.

"What?"

"Caf-pow?" She asked, smiling.

"Ask McGee to buy you one." He smiled as he motioned for Ziva and Tony to follow him before heading out of the lab and into the elevator.

Abby grinned as she turned to McGee, "Looks like you're gonna have to buy me another Caf-Pow, Timmy."

McGee grumbled as he got up, "Fine. I'll be back in ten minutes."

"Five!"

"Nine!"

"Four!"

"Eight!"

"Three!"

"Abby!"

"Sorry…." She mumbled as she turned back to her computer screen, sipping the remnants of her Caf-Pow McGee had bought her earlier.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Aw, boss…come on now! Can't we go home? It's like two in the morning."

"Yeah, and there's a killer on the loose!" he walked over to Ziva's desk, "You ready for an undercover mission?"

"Undercover?" Ziva asked, her eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.

"Yeah, David, did I stutter when I spoke?"

"No…but I am confused."

"Undercover. You know…"

"I know what undercover means…but what is my mission? Brief me." She smiled.

"If Travis Davis is the same guy that killed the other five women, in two weeks, he should want to strike again, at the same club..."

"And I'm going to be the next victim." she said, and he nodded.

"Very good, David." He smiled.

"No." Tony said, suddenly, standing up. He didn't know where it came from, it just came spilling out. He had managed to keep it in his head as Gibbs explained the mission to Ziva, but just the thought of a killer…a serial killer all over _his _Ziva? Something could go wrong…but there was just one thought running through Tony's head: Wasn't gonna happen. No matter what Gibbs thought.

Ziva stared at him, in shock and confusion.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, walking towards him, "Something you'd like to share?"

"Zi's not going in. Sorry, boss. This is where you've crossed the line."

"Zi?" Gibbs asked, raising his eyebrows in amusement. He turned to look at Ziva, who just looked down at her desk before turning back and looking at Tony.

"Ziva." He corrected himself, "Ziva's not going in, boss. Sorry. Remember the last time you sent the two of us in to infiltrate that Naval base? Didn't go too well, did it?" Gibbs didn't say anything, for he fully knew that all Tony wanted to do was vent, just like he had in autopsy, "Yeah, boss, sorry, but Ziva's not going in there. She could…I don't know…she could get hurt. And I know that she's Mossad, but boss! But, no! This is a serial killer we're dealing with. I know we've dealt with serial killers before…but boss! Come on! At least let me go in with her. I'm not letting her do this by herself."

"DiNozzo." Gibbs said as Tony huffed and looked at him.

"What?"

"You mind telling me what's really going on?"

"Huh?"He looked between the two partners before backing away, "I'm talking about your behavior. What happened between you two?"

"What are you talkin' about, boss?"

"Lack of arguments…excessive flirting…going out on dates…dressing up to impress each other…" He focused that one on Ziva before turning back to DiNozzo, "Protecting _Ziva._" Tony didn't realize he did any of those things, and neither did Ziva until the boss had said it, "That reminds me. My office. Now."

**So that wasn't much of a fight… sadly…but Gibbs isn't one to really…argue with Tony. Just let him vent. I know I just sorta sprung this whole undercover thing on them, but review! Please! New episode tonight! **


	6. Hebrew, for SHUT UP!

**So I was debating with myself whether or not I was actually going to write the elevator scene or not, and I decided that, if the actual NCIS writers were going to write this story, they would not include it. Why? Because we WANT it. So I'm not including it. Haha, so evil, yes, I know. But hey, what can I do? I know what you can do…enjoy! Haha, I just had fun with this chapter. It's not really climatic or anything, just…there! So please enjoy! **

Jethro Gibbs strolled into the bullpen, coffee in hand, even though he slept well last night. He glanced as he noticed his three agents all asleep, their heads on their desks. Ziva and Tony were both covered in paperwork, at their own desks, both snoring. After their 'meeting' last night about Rule 12, he felt better....safer about how they were going to deal with their 'sexual desires' around each other. McGee's hand was twitching, as if he was typing, but his desk was completely clear. The only thing on was his computer, with the screensaver running. Gibbs stared at it and smirked as he noticed Ziva in a bikini as the screensaver, "You better hope she doesn't see that, McGee." He whispered into his ear as he watched in amusement, the probie's head snapping up in a flash, his hand smacking the keyboard as the screensaver went away.

"Tony, I swear-" He started, but then stopped as he noticed his boss was there, an amused smirk on his face, "Oh. Sorry boss."

"Hey!" Gibbs suddenly shouted into the bullpen, and Ziva and Tony both snapped their heads up, paper work going everywhere as they hurriedly tried to pick them back up.

"I'm…we're working, boss."

"Working, Gibbs." Tony and Ziva both said at the same time as they stared at each other before turning to Gibbs. Ziva sighed and rested her hand against her head.

"I am sorry, Gibbs." Ziva said, stifling a yawn, "I just…I was doing my work, I just fell asleep…"

"David. Stop. I understand." Gibbs said as he nodded his head, "You're gonna need your rest for tonight, anyways."

"What is happening tonight?"

"You're going back to that club. McGee and DiNozzo will be in as backup."

"You find this man." Gibbs said as his face appeared on the plasma, "Travis Davis. You find him, Ziva. You locate him. You make sure he remembers your face. Avoid making any contact with him, but make. Sure. He. Notices. You."

"Got it, Gibbs." She nodded her head. She pointed to the plasma, "That does look like the man I saw leaving the bar with Lieutenant Lee yesterday."

"Good. That has to be our guy." Gibbs started to walk away, but McGee stopped him.

"Uh…boss?"

"What, McGee?" Gibbs asked as he stopped, an annoyed looked on his face.

"Uh…what are we supposed to do now?"

"Go home. Get some sleep. You're gonna need it."

McGee sighed and then shut off his computer before packing up his stuff. He checked his watch, "It's 0900h."

Ziva turned to Tony, and stopped herself before she ran into his chest. She sighed and closed her eyes, "Tony. Would you mind moving?" She asked as she looked up at him. She then smiled, a closed smile, trying to stifle a laugh as she put her hand up to her face.

"What?" He asked, smiling, obviously amused by the entire thing.

"Your….you have…." She pointed to his hair, "Porcupine! I got that right, yes?"

McGee responded, "Yeah, you got that one right, Ziva."

Tony just glared at him, "Porcupine!" Ziva laughed as Tony just smiled down at her.

"You like my hair looking like a porcupine?"

"I did not say that."

"Well your hair is pretty much a big puff ball." Tony smiled, "Kinda like Cousin IT in the…"And that was when Ziva's fist collided with his gut, and he was flying backwards, hitting the ground with a thump. She promptly walked over him, stepping on his chest, which made his groan, as she grabbed her backpack, her coat, and her shoes out of Gibbs' trash can before walking out of the bullpen.

"Someone needs their beauty rest!" Tony yelled at her, from where she was standing at the elevator doors.

"Then you need to sleep for a lifetime, yes?"

"Hah, hah, very funny, Zee-vah." Tony yelled back, grunting as he sat up. The rest of the squad room started to look at them, "You also need to act a little less serious about everything. Let loose. You know, sleeping with me could help!" He yelled the last part louder. A couple of other NCIS agents all stuck their heads up above their cubicles to hear about their little 'lovers spat.'

She turned and looked at him, slipping on one heel. A snarl was on her face as she shouted back, "DiNozzo, _stom ta'pe_!"

"I don't know that one. Heard you use it before, though. Doesn't that mean, 'Sure Tony, I'll sleep with you?'"

"It's Hebrew!" She hissed back, as loud as she could, "For _SHUT UP!_"

"Oh....so you want me to shut up, huh? I'll shut up if you just sleep with me." She hoisted her other heel up into the air, threatening to throw it at him.

"If you do not stop, I will be forced to kill you with this heel, and do not think I can not do it!"

"I'd like to see ya try, David! Try to catch me! Did you know I was second on the Ohio State track team? Oh, I was wicked fast, Zi...I wanna see you try to catch me!" He said, putting his hands out and taking a 'ready position', grinning like an idiot.

"You testing me, Tony?"

"Show me what Mossad Liaison Ziva David has in her!" He smiled, beckoning her towards him.

"Hey! DiNozzo! David! What the hell are you two yelling about?" Gibbs asked as they both turned to look at the stairs. He was standing on the balcony, his hands resting on the bars, an angry expression on his face.

"Sorry, boss!" Tony yelled up, standing back to his full height as Ziva sighed and put her other shoe back on, "Wasn't anything important."

"Go home! _Now. _Get some rest." _Maybe we need a whole week of lessons on Rule Twelve... _Gibbs thought as he shook his head. The other NCIS agents tried to look like they weren't watching, even though Gibbs knew that they were.

"Right, boss!"

Ziva rolled her eyes as Tony appeared by her side. She went to walk into the elevator, but then realized that the doors were already closing. He gave her his famous smile as he walked 'with a purpose' towards her, sliding in close, nudging her. She looked down at his hip, and then back up at him before smacking him on the shoulder.

"Ow!" He said, rubbing his right shoulder, "What was that for?"

"Making me miss the elevator. _Idiot._" She hissed under her breath.

"What was that?" He asked, smiling as he got closer to her.

"Idiot!" She yelled into his ear, and he leaned back, mouthing her 'ow' again as he rubbed his ear.

"I think you may have pierced an eardrum."

"Good. You never listen to me anyways."

The elevators reopened as they walked in and Tony said, "You know, look on the bright side. I'm your backup when you go undercover."

"Right." She scoffed, laughing, "Like that is something I should look forward to. I feel safe now."

Tony laughed as he looked up at the ceiling, shaking his head as the elevator doors closed, "You really need to get some sleep."

**:) So next chapter...Ziva's first night in the club. Tony's jealousy...something may go wrong? On the first day? Maybe? Maybe not? But one thing's for sure...PROBIE NAME CALLING! Tony/McGee....gotta love 'em. Review?  
**


	7. Travis Davis

"McGee, DiNozzo, you two in there?" Gibbs asked into the earpiece as he sat in the black van a block away from the club.

"Yeah, boss, we're here." Tony responded, from where he was leaning up against the wall next to the doorway, waiting for Ziva to make her entrance.

"McGee? Status."

"Yeah, I'm here." He said into the earpiece, looking around at the bodies on the dance floor, Britney Spears pumping through the speakers, "I can't stand it though."

"What, McNerd, never been to a club before?"

"Shut up, Tony, yeah, I have, just never one that's so…"

"What? Say it, probie."

"One that's so…different."

"That's your word to describe it? Say what you want to, McPrude."

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"What?" Tony asked.

"Change the subject. Shut your mouth, unless you want people to think you talk to yourself." Tony quickly shut his mouth and searched the club before finding McGee, sitting at the bar, sipping a drink.

"Hey, McTini! Way to be nice and get me something! Jeez, we've only been in here ten minutes, and you're already drinking!"

"Ziva, whenever you're ready. Go." Gibbs said into the earpiece, but neither Tony nor McGee were listening.

"Tony!" McGee said, under his breath.

Tony suddenly became aware of the wondrous scent that entered his nostrils, and he felt a leg brush up against his. He smiled as she gave him a smirk before continuing on, "Ziva's here, boss." Tony said, watching her move towards the dance floor, obviously trying to find the man.

Instead of camera glasses (Tony insisted that they 'wouldn't sell'), Gibbs, well actually, Abby had managed to place a camera inside her barrette. Tony and McGee both were forced to use the camera glasses, however, much to Tony's discomfort. (And Gibbs had politely told him to shut up and wear 'em)

"Ziva's moving across the dance floor…"

"I can see that, DiNozzo."

"She's at the bar." McGee said as he watched her give him a smirk as she crossed towards the bar and sat down, ordering a shot before standing back up. McGee couldn't help but be a little nervous, considering that this was Ziva, a trained assassin, and the fact she looked hot as hell. _If I can think that, I can't even imagine what Tony thinks about her choice of attire. _She was wearing a deep red dress that, if it was possible, was shorter than her other one, and strapless. Her hair, instead of being straight, was done in light curls, that bobbed on her shoulders as she walked.

"I can see that, McGee!" Gibbs declared, impatient as he tore his gaze off of Ziva.

"Yeah, he can see that, McGee!" DiNozzo said, boastfully.

"DiNozzo, move around, stop acting suspicious." Gibbs said as he sighed and walked away from where he was leant up against the wall, moving towards the dance floor before asking a woman to dance, whilst keeping an eye on Ziva as he moved with her.

"Freeze that image." Gibbs demanded as the other 'tech guys', as Gibbs had said, in the van paused the image from Tony's glasses, "Abs." Gibbs said into the other line.

"Yeah, bossman?"

"Run facial recognition on every picture I send to you. I want to know if any of these are our Travis Davis."

"You got it!" She cried before Gibbs heard the typing of keys in his ear.

"Image coming your way." Gibbs said as he pressed the 'send' button and Abby started to scan the first image from where she was standing in her lab, sipping her Caf-Pow with happiness whilst listening to her death metal music.

Tony thanked the woman for the dance, and she scoffed and rolled her eyes as he walked away, not caring that the woman had probably fancied him.

"Who's got eyes on Ziva?" Gibbs asked as Abby confirmed that the man was not Travis Davis.

"I do, boss, she's headed towards the middle of the dance floor." Tony confirmed as he started to follow her.

"DiNozzo! Do not follow her! You can't risk blowing her cover. She's Gina David, not Ziva."

"So rule twelve doesn't count?" Tony smirked but then apologized as he could almost see his boss giving him 'the stare', "Sorry boss."

"Gibbs, I think I see him." Ziva said into the microphone, and Tony's eyes went on red alert as he searched the club for her. However, the music was too loud, he couldn't hear her voice besides in his ear, and she had strayed to the middle of the dance floor., where a mass of bodies had formed. It would be impossible to spot a skinny Israeli chick in the middle of that group.

"Freeze that." Gibbs demanded of the image that he had barely captured before someone walked in front of her from Ziva's barrette, "Send it to Abby for facial recognition. DiNozzo, you keep an eye on David. McGee, you start moving into the dance floor as well. I want two eyes on her, in case this dirt bag tries anything."

"Gibbs!" Abby's voice suddenly popped into his head.

"Yeah? Whatcha got for me, Abs?"

"A match. He's definitely Travis Davis."

"That's good work, Abs."

"Thanks!" She said, pleased with herself before Gibbs returned back to the other earwigs.

"That's Travis Davis, Ziva, get in there. Make sure he sees you."

"On it," She said as she moved towards him.

"Miss, miss." She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, and she tried to fight back the urge to go 'Mossad' on them and fling them off of her, but she just turned around and came face to face with one of the most gorgeous men she had ever seen in her life. Suddenly, the whole mission disappeared, and she was infatuated with this man. He was the second most beautiful, next to Tony, even though she'd never admit it. The mission did not matter anymore.

She smiled, "Hello…My name's Gina, what's yours?" She asked, smiling seductively at him.

"Target's moving towards the bar." McGee told his fellow three agents, and Gibbs, but two of them weren't listening. Tony was too busy watching Ziva, and Ziva was too busy seducing a man."McGee, get over there. DiNozzo, your eyes are on Ziva."

"On it, boss." McGee said as he made his way over to the bar before sitting down and ordering another martini. Travis sat a couple of bar stools down from him, but McGee could barely see him, thanks to the heavy amount of cigarette smoke in front of his face.

"I'm John." He smiled to Ziva, taking her hand in his, "Would you like this dance?"

"Target got up from the bar. Moving towards the dance floor." McGee responded.

"I would love to dance." Ziva smiled as a new song started, and Ziva rammed her hips up against his, grinding with him as his arms snaked around her waist. Tony could feel his blood boil as he watched 'John's' hands move down to her ass. Once he squeezed it, and she didn't kill him, instead, she giggled, Tony had had enough.

"Gibbs! I'm blowing my cover, Ziva's coming out of here!"

"The hell you will, DiNozzo! You blow her cover, you blow the entire operation!"

"Target's on your nine, Ziva." McGee said as he watched Travis brush up against the Israeli.

"Excuse me." He said, nodding at John, "I'm Travis." He said to Ziva as they both stopped dancing, "Would you mind if I have the rest of this dance?"

"Yeah, sure, just let me get her number….you wouldn't mind that, would you?" She shook her head as she gave him her number before he carefully leaned down and pecked her cheek, "Nice to meet you, Gina."

"You too." She smiled and Travis moved into John's space. Suddenly, the mission came roaring back to her.

"Dance?" He asked, giving her a smile. He couldn't really be a serial killer, could he?

"I would love to." She smiled, and then she was in his arms, dancing even more seductively to the song.

"Ziva! What the hell are you doing?" Gibbs asked, "You were only supposed to let him see you, not dance with him! He wasn't supposed to know who you are! Ziva, you're blowing your cover!"

Ziva, of course, didn't say anything, she just continued to dance, her hips grinding into his as his hands searched her body. She let out an audible moan, causing Travis to smile like an idiot, and Tony's jaw tightened, "Boss, I'm going in." Tony said, "She's screwing this mission, and she's in the hands of a serial killer. I don't think so."

"DiNozzo stand down! You're off this mission! DINOZZO!" He said, but it was too late, Tony had ripped out the earwig and threw it on the ground, stepping on it and rubbing the toe of his shoe into it.

"McGee! Find DiNozzo! Track him down! Get Ziva, get out of there. Now! I told you not to engage!" Gibbs threw off his head seat as he cursed while he was crossing his arms, "Damn it!"

Ziva felt her heart rate accelerate. This was a serial killer. In her arms was a serial killer. But Gibbs had told her not to engage…when was the song going to end? She spotted her partner, storming through the crowd, knocking pretty lady over pretty lady away, and just by the look in his dark brown eyes, she knew that something was wrong, and she had a good feeling she knew what it was. She had engaged."Tomorrow?" Travis suddenly said, and she snapped her eyes up to his. He was leaning down and whispering into her ear, his breath against the side of her face, making her involuntarily shudder.

"Actually, I am busy. But I come here every day, especially Fridays." She smiled, "Be there."

"A regular?"

"Yes." She smiled, "I love this club."

"Thank you for the dance….Gina? Isn't that your name?"

"Yes, Gina. What is yours?"

"Travis."

"Nice to meet you, Travis" She smiled, "I hope to see you soon."

"Nice to meet you too." He smiled back before moving away, his eyes fixed on her the entire time.

"There you are!" Tony said, grabbing her arm as he dragged her off of the dance floor and into the corner of the club, shoving her up against the wall, blocking her from escaping, "What were you thinking?"

"Me? Look at you, Tony! You blow your cover, blow everything, just because a serial killer wraps his arms around me!"

"Ziva, do you hear what you're saying? You could have gotten killed! That was a _serial killer_, Ziva, a _serial killer. _Don't you understand? He was all over you…and…"Ziva suddenly smirked, and Tony stopped at her amused look, "What?"

"Jealous, Tony?" She asked, and he shook his head.

"I'm…I'm not. I swear."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes, "Now go away."

"David, McGee, DiNozzo, mission's done tonight." But by the tone of the bosses voice, they could tell that they were in major trouble.

"You did it this time, didn't you, Tony?" Ziva asked as Tony saw McGee quickly leave the club before Ziva left in a group of people, after she made sure that Travis had seen her leave, and then Tony left, last. As he climbed into the black van, a block away, he had never seen his boss look so upset with him.

"You. Sit. Now." He pointed to where Ziva and McGee were sitting.

"I do something wrong?" He asked, looking up at his didn't say anything to him.

"McGee. Drive the van back to headquarters. Good work tonight." He said, and McGee nodded.

"Thank you, boss." He said as he hopped out of the van and started towards the driver's side.

Gibbs slammed the van door shut just as McGee started to drive, and Gibbs spoke darkly to them, making even Ziva have goosebumps on her arms, "What. The hell. Were you thinking?"


	8. Wanna Drink?

"Boss, listen, I can explain!" Tony tried to convince his boss for about the billionth time that night as he and Ziva hurriedly followed him off of the elevator. He was keeping a fast pace towards the bullpen before he finally turned on his heel, nearly knocking them both down. Tony had to grab Ziva's arm in order for her to stop.

"No!" he said, thrusting a finger in his face, "DiNozzo, you better learn how to control yourself around her." He said, thrusting a finger at Ziva, "It's a mission, not real life, damn it! Get control of your damn emotions and settle down!" He said, shoving his shoulder with his hand, "Next time you pull a smart ass move like that, you best as hell better like unemployment, cause that's where you're headed." And with that, he stormed off, leaving Tony and Ziva alone in the bullpen. No words were spoken as Ziva moved to her desk and Tony continued to stand there. Ziva silently walked over to him, keeping a relatively safe difference before thinking about giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

She shook her head and then uttered, "Lailah Tov, Tony." She smiled, but he didn't turn to look at her until she was gone from the squadroom and into the elevator.

He took one look at her desk and then another look at his desk before packing up his backpack and starting the same way Ziva had just exited. A drink was just what he needed. He pulled out his cell phone and pressed speed dial as he walked into the elevator and the doors closed. Just as expected, on the first ring, she picked up, "Hey, wanna go get a drink?"

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Gibbs was really upset tonight at Ziva and Tony." McGee said to Abby, who was getting ready to pack up and leave.

"Yikes, yeah, I know, Timmy, I heard! Remember? I was talking to Gibbs and you guys when you were in the club. Probably forgot to turn off the mike."

"Yeah, well, Gibbs is upset because Tony and Ziva are on the verge of breaking rule twelve. Which is really pissing him off."Abby spun quickly around and smiled a large smile, her cherry red lips glistening as she smiled at him, "Really?"

McGee nodded.

She started to hop around, jumping up and down and in circles, yelling, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" A couple of times before finally stopping and hugging McGee, "It's about _time. _But I thought they hooked up a long time ago. You know, I thought they were jumping in the sack on their trip to LA instead of protecting the director." She sighed as painful memories rushed back to her, "Oh Jenny." She looked up at McGee with sad eyes, all happiness leaving her body.

"Abs, it's okay. How bout…how about we get a drink and just talk tonight, yeah? Sound good?"She smiled, reverting back to her normal self, "Sounds good, Timmy! Let's go!" She said, slipping her coat on, grabbing her tin lunchbox, and then linking arms with McGee before they headed out of the lab, cutting off the lights, her computers, the music, and locking the door on the way.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ziva David walked into her and Tony's normal bar, only to find it less crowded than normal. Tony was already sitting at the bar, sipping what looked like bourbon…or whiskey…it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was already drinking, and she hadn't even gotten there.

She walked in, still dressed in her undercover outfit, which consisted of a shorter, strapless, yellow dress and her infamous silver heels as she headed towards him. She stopped behind the chair next to him and slipped off her jacket, folding it neatly before draping it over the back of the stool. No words were spoken as she sat down next to him, ordering a Mojito before finally turning to him, "You have not told me what is wrong yet," She said, trying to stare into his eyes, which were fixed on his drink as he took another sip. She tried to decipher what emotions she could pick out easily in his eyes. Maybe it was just from being around him for so long, but even Gibbs couldn't pick out all of the emotions that she could, "Tony, is it what Gibbs told you? If so, I am sorry, I am the one to blame. I took it too far. You were only trying to protect me…"

"I'm done playing this way."

She furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion, "What…what are you talking about?"

"I'm tired of playing the idiot, the one that always wants to have fun, always wants everything _his _way. I met someone like that when I was an agent afloat. Never liked him. And now that I think about it, he's exactly like me."

"Tony…how does this have to do with what Gibbs told you?" She asked as the bartender set down her drink.

"He's right." Tony smiled, but Ziva couldn't help but notice it was a sad one, "I need to take control of my emotions. I let them get too out of hand. And if I can let me jealousy get out of hand like that…." He sighed and turned to her, looking her straight in the eyes, "How long have I acted like an idiot?"

"Childish?"

"Yeah, _childish._ You know, it seems like only a couple of weeks ago that I was on that stupid website, telling _you _to act childish." He sighed.

"Tony, it _was_ a couple of weeks ago." She smiled, and he carefully, tentatively, took her hand in his. She looked down at it for a little bit before she looked up at him.

"I'm ready to grow up." He smiled.

"Why?" Ziva asked, "Why now? Out of all of the years that you-"

"I want to grow up because of you, Ziva."

She almost caught her breath in her throat, this couldn't be happening could it? Not to her, she had finally gotten over Tony, after two years, she had finally gotten over him when she had returned to Israel…Michael…Tony. He slowly moved his face closer to hers, and she could feel his hot breath on her face as he was no more than a couple of centimeters away. She had gotten over him, she had! No! She couldn't, shouldn't be doing this. She loved Michael…in Israel…she abruptly stood up, snatching her hand from Tony's soft, loving grip and shrugging on her coat, dropping a five and a one nervously on the counter, next to her barely sipped drink before she realized making eye contact would be the absolute worst thing to do with him, "I…I have to go." She said, muttering to herself in Hebrew before running out of the bar. Running. Running. Far away. It didn't matter where she went, she just needed to run. She climbed into her Cooper and started up the engine, not looking back at the bar as she sped out of sight and towards her apartment.

Once she arrived, she threw down her coat, slipped off her shoes, and then moved to her bedroom, where she changed into her jogging outfit and pulling her hair up into a ponytail before holstering her gun, her badge, and her cell phone. While she was putting on her shoes, she called Director Vance, who wasn't too pleased with her calling him at almost 100h, but she did anyways, to set up a phone call tomorrow, or, she guessed, today. She heard her home phone ring, but she didn't bother to pick it up. As she exited the apartment, slipping in the earbuds of the Ipod Abby had given her nearly a year ago, she started playing some of her favorite Israeli songs. She started on a new course, for different couldn't hurt anyone anyways, could it, and, as the cold air nipped at her skin and the cold, wet pavement, from when it rained a couple of nights ago sloshed underneath her running shoes, she couldn't help but remember Tony's words, flowing through her head, _"I'm tired of playing the idiot, the one that always wants to have fun, always wants everything his way. I met someone like that when I was an agent afloat. Never liked him. And now that I think about it, he's exactly like me." _

"_I'm ready to grow up." _She suddenly felt that she was being watched, but her thoughts and mind never left Tony…why had she pulled away? She'd been wanting him to kiss her for almost two years, every since they had gone undercover, and now _she _was the one that pushed _him _away? Nothing made sense. She turned around a corner before something hard and metal collided with her head. She dropped immediately to the ground, the earbuds falling out of her ears as she felt the consciousness leave her body completely. But, before everything went back, the last thing she heard were Tony's last words to her, before she had bolted out of the bar.

"_I want to grow up because of you, Ziva." _


	9. Grown Up

Timothy McGee hummed the tune to Jeopardy as he strolled out of the elevator, at 0800h in the morning. _Not bad. _He mused, noticing the empty bullpen, _I'm here before Gibbs and Tony are…hold on. _He stopped short as he noticed the boxes on top of Tony's desk, filled to the brim with all of his stuff. His GSM magazines were the most recognizable, for they filled one box, and then, on top of it, was his American Pie coffee mug as well as his Mighty Mouse stapler and a couple of movies that Tony kept in his desk for their long nights.

McGee immediately thought the worst; Tony had either resigned, or Gibbs had fired him for breaking Rule Twelve with Ziva. It was obvious that they had; the sexual tension had been even more obvious than normal.

Then, suddenly, a couple more magazines were slapped into a box, arising from under Tony's desk.

"Tony?" McGee asked, peering over to try to see where he was, and why he was under his desk, but that quickly changed as Tony stood up, straightening his tie and jacket, "Whoa. I didn't know that today was formal…"

"It's not," He smiled as he smiled at the amount of 'Tony stuff' on his desk, "Well that's all done." He said before placing the lids on the boxes and neatly storing them under the table behind his desk.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Cleaning. It's about time that I cleaned out the desk, Tim." He smiled, and McGee let his jaw drop to the ground.

"Tim? _Tim?_" McGee asked, confused, "Hold on, you never call me 'Tim'."

"Well that _is_ your first name, isn't it? You don't mind being called Tim though, right? I don't have to call you Timothy."

"Uh…sure…okay, what's going on, Tony. Cut the act."

"It's not an act." Tony reassured his friend, "Just trying to grow up."

"For Ziva." McGee said, but Tony didn't say anything.

"Speaking of Ziva, where is she?"

"Uh…I dunno. Late."

Tony found his heart rate accelerating, "She's never this late." He commented, "Something must have gone wrong."

"Stop worrying, Tony, I'm sure Ziva's fine. She _is _a Mossad officer, remember?"

"Yes, Tim, I remember."

"Tim?" Gibbs asked as the two agents turned to see their boss standing in the entrance to the bullpen, a coffee cup in his right hand, obviously confused by the whole thing.

"Good Morning, Special Agent Gibbs!" Tony smiled, completely chipper. Tim watched in amazement as Tony walked over to shake his hand, but Gibbs just stared at him and then gave a half-smile.

"What the hell is wrong with you, DiNozzo? Lay off the painkillers, will ya?" He asked, walking towards his desk, "Where's David?"

"Mossad Liaison Officer Ziva David isn't in yet, Special Agent Gibbs."

"Well call her then, _Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo." _Gibbs mocked him, "McGee. House phone. Tony, cell phone."

"On it, boss." McGee said, quickly rushing over to his desk phone and picking it up before dialing the number. Tony did the same, pulling out his cell phone and calling Ziva. Tony sighed and closed his eyes.

"No answer." McGee called just as Tony spoke.

"She did not answer, Agent Gibbs." _Not good, not good, not good, not good! _Tony was shouting in his brain, _Something happened to her, you can feel it! _He took a look at his boss, the signs of desperation and concern for his partner deep in his eyes.

"Trace her cell, McGee! I have a feeling something isn't right." He said before starting out of the bullpen when Tony stopped him.

"Special Agent Gibbs?"

"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo?"

"What should I do, sir?"

"Help McGee."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ziva David groaned as she became aware of the sounds around her. People. Talking. Shoes. Hitting pavement. She lifted her head up and was hit with a wave of nauseous as she realized she was still in the alley that she had run into last night. She quickly checked her person and realized that all of her belongings were there. She furrowed her eyes in confusion. How could that be, if someone had knocked her out? She groaned and stood up, stumbling back a little as she grasped onto the side of the wall for support before she started to walk forward. She stopped immediately as she realized a pole hanging out from the side of the wall. _I ran into a pole. How immature and stupid of me. _She scolded herself before she checked her phone for the time.

0830h, late for work by thirty minutes as well as five missed calls. All from Tony. Of course.

She sighed, realizing she wouldn't have time to change before heading to work, if she wanted to live, and she realized that she was a block or two away from the Navy Yard. Being in her running clothes still, she started her run towards the Navy Yard. Thank god she packed her ID and her gun with her before she left her apartment. As she exited the alley, from where she was rendered unconscious behind a garbage bin, she shook her head, people stared at her, but she didn't care.

She couldn't even imagine how Tony felt. He was probably freaking out. She sighed as she navigated through a crowd of people. She had turned him down last night, and she felt horrible about it. She hadn't meant to hurt him, she didn't even understand why she did it. However, today, on the conference call she set up with Director Vance, she was going to tell Michael not to wait for her. She could see the Navy Yard in view. She picked up the pace. Her mind was in a frazzle of thoughts and confusion in her life as well as she slowed her pace when she made it to the entrance.

After showing her ID to the guard, for the billionth time in her life, and they looked at her weird, she ran across the Navy Yard and into the NCIS building, heading towards the elevator and up to the squadroom. Nervously, she wringed her hands together in the elevator, trying to figure out what she was going to say to Gibbs when he asked her where she was. _"Yes, Gibbs, I know that I am late, I am very sorry, but I went running last night…early this morning, one in the morning…why, you ask? Well Tony invited me to the bar last night, told me he wanted to grow up because of me, went in to kiss me, and then I took off. Oh, and now I'm regretting everything because instead of running into a pole, I could have woken up naked in Tony's bed." _Yes, because _that _made sense. Gibbs was already furious at them for 'showing signs of breaking rule twelve', much less _actually _breaking it.

The elevator doors dinged back open, and she sighed, wiping her hands on her pants before starting out of the elevator and into the squadroom, where McGee was at his computer, and Tony was standing by, totally engrossed in what McGee was looking at.

"Sorry I am late." She said as they both snapped their heads up to them. It was only then that she noticed that Tony was dressed rather…handsome today. She hated to say it, but what was admitting that he looked sexy as hell in his tuxedo?

"Mossad Liaison Officer Ziva David!" Tony said, smiling at her as he walked over to her, "Special Agent Gibbs will be thrilled to know that you're here. He was getting worried."

"Tony?" Ziva asked, confused. She looked around, "Why are you acting this way?"

"What way?" he asked, "I don't understand Ziva."

"Okay, Tony, drop the act. You are not fooling anyone. Where is Gibbs?" She turned to McGee, "Why is Tony acting this way?"

McGee shrugged, "He called me Tim."

"You did not answer my question, McGee." She said, stepping towards him "Why is Tony acting like…like…well not like himself, yes?"

"He said he wanted to 'act mature' or something. Personally, I thought that…" But Ziva didn't listen anymore. She abruptly turned on her heel and stared at him, in complete shock. _He's doing this for you, for you, Ziva, for _you. She couldn't believe it. Tony had really grown up. He had really taken this seriously…she didn't have words. She couldn't believe it. Tony really wanted to grow up for her. But he was taking it too far. She looked over to his desk, her eyes roaming as she noticed that it was completely neat, the desk top cleared of everything except for the essentials as well as all of the file folders neatly stacked on the back table. Quickly, she moved over and ripped open the drawer to his desk before she noticed that all of the candy bars were gone as well as his movies, his mighty mouse stapler…She opened up another drawer. Instead of the GSM magazines, they were replaced by file folders. She walked over to him, stopping maybe a foot from him as she tried to read his eyes.

"Ziva..." Tony said, concern evident in his eyes, "What happened to your forehead?" He asked, and it was only then that Ziva realized that there was a large, growing bruise on her forehead. _Great. That's attractive. _She thought tiredly as she sighed.

"Tony, what happened to you?" She asked, disregarding the bruise on her forehead.

"I've grown up, Ziva. Not that hard to understand. Now if you two will excuse me, while Ziva is getting that brutal wound looked at by Doctor Mallard, I have some background research to accomplish on our Mr. Travis Davis as well as get ready for Friday night's undercover mission," He said before he moved past her to sit at his desk, to work more on the case as he just left Ziva standing in the middle of the bullpen, completely confused and shocked at the whole situation. _That's not for almost a whole week! _

Because, deep down in her heart, she knew who she truly loved. The love for him had never gone away, it had only been buried deeper, masked, trying to hide it from the world. Bottled up inside of her before 'forgotten'. But it wasn't forgotten. He was going to change his entire lifestyle for her, to get her to fall in love with him, to try to have a chance to spend the rest of his life with her. But it was already too late. She was too far under. Too much above her head. Too much in love.


	10. Gibbs is More Immature Than You

Ziva slammed the door to her apartment. She didn't think she could take it anymore. It had been three days, it was Wednesday, and Tony had started this 'mature' thing since Monday. She didn't think she could possibly take it anymore. If it was possible, she was losing her love for him. She had fallen in love with the crazy, move-obsessed, unpredictable, _lovable,_ Tony DiNozzo, not this uptight, formal, mature, _Mossad,_ Tony DiNozzo. _Oh my god…_She thought, _He's acting like someone in Mossad…_

Ziva sighed and sank down to the ground, in the darkness of her apartment. _I'm losing my love for him…_

All Ziva knew was one thing:

She had to fix this, and she had to fix it now.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

At 0700h, the elevator doors dinged, and she stepped out of the elevator and into the squadroom. She walked towards her desk and spotted Tony sitting there, diligently working. Her back was turned to him, to put down her backpack, and he smiled at her.

"Good morning, Officer David!" Ziva rolled her eyes and turned around.

"So, Tony, what did you do last night?"

"Read a book and went to bed. Wuthering Heights. You should read it sometime. It was rather good," He smiled and she thought she couldn't possibly take it anymore. If it was possible, McGee and Gibbs were more immature than Tony.

"I am going to see Abby."

"Tell Abigail I said 'Hi'!" He called after her, "Wait! Ziva!"

She turned on her heel. That was the first time he'd called her that in two days.

"I'm going to go and get coffee for Agent Gibbs and Agent McGee. Would you like anything?" She just scoffed and rolled her eyes before continuing towards the elevator.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Abby?" Ziva called into the lab, and she walked in.

"Ziva!" Abby suddenly called, and then she was tackled into a hug. Ziva smiled.

"Good morning, Abby." She looked behind her, and Ziva was confused, "What?"

"Good, he's not here. Come on!" She pulled her into the middle section of her lab and shoved her into the computer chair before closing and locking the sliding glass door behind her.

"What's up with Tony? I miss his DiNozzo charm!" She moaned, "Ziva, what happened to him? One day he was all peachy and Tony…and Tony…and now he's like…not Tony! Ziva!"

She sighed, "Abby, if I tell you, will you promise not to tell anyone?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure, Ziva, tell me! Ohmygod, don't tell me. You two slept together. No, don't answer that. Wait, answer that. Did you?!"

"No! We didn't! That's the problem!"

"Huh? Abby's confused."

She sighed again, "Tony invited me to the bar Sunday night. He was already drinking when I got there, so I immediately thought the worst…he always waits till I get there to drink. Well earlier that day, Gibbs yelled at him for screwing up the mission, throwing down his earwig and stepping at it before pulling me out of there. Gibbs told him not to let his emotions cut into work, and to calm down, and when I got there, he told me he wanted to grow up for me and…well…he went to kiss me, I pulled away, left, and then when I came back to work Monday morning, he was…mature!" Ziva could tell that Abby was about to scream, "Abby, do not scream."

"Ohymygod! Ziva! He's so in love with you, it's adorable!" her tone changed from an 'awwing' tone to a serious tone, "Do you love him too?"

"I believe so, yes, but the more days I am around this 'different' Tony, the more I am falling out of love with him."

"Well you just need to fix some things, and I know exactly how to!"

"How?" Ziva asked as Abby smiled an amazing grin, causing Ziva to get a little nervous about what she had planned.

"Officer David and Abigail Scuito!" Tony called as he walked into the lab, holding a coffee cup in one hand and a Caf-Pow in the other. Abby shared a look with Ziva before unlocking the door and stepping out into the lab.

"Tony!" She smiled, flinging her arms around him, "Hey!"

"Abby," He said, stumbling back, "Hugs are not appropriate. I did not ask for one. That's a yellow light." She let go of him and huffed, snatching the Caf-Pow from him, sipping it happily.

"Tell Gibbs to get down here when you go back up, Tony. I have the new cameras installed as well as the hacked feeds of the surveillance cameras in the club."

"I will. Thank you, Abigail." He turned to Ziva, and Abby watched in amusement and awe, wanting something to happen, "Ziva."

"Tony."

He handed her the coffee cup, "I bought you some tea, since I didn't know what you wanted. Agent Gibbs would like you upstairs to make sure that your head is feeling okay from that horrible hit you took."

"Thanks." She said as he started out of the lab. She started to follow him, but Abby pulled onto her arm, "What?"

She whispered something in her ear before shoving her out, "Go, go, go, go, go!" She smiled to herself.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Agent Gibbs, are you enjoying your coffee?" Tony asked as he walked into the bullpen.

"Mhmm…" Gibbs said, eying Tony as he sat down in his seat. Ziva followed into the bullpen, and she and Gibbs shared a look of pure irritation at Tony before she too took her seat.

"Oh, Agent Gibbs, I almost forgot, Abigail wants to see you down in the laboratory. She said she has some new cameras and new surveillance feed for the 9:30 club.""Thanks, DiNozzo." He said before sharing another look with Ziva and exiting the bullpen. Once he was in the elevators, Ziva stood up and walked towards Tony's desk.

"Tony," She acknowledged as she stood in front of his desk.

"Officer David." He said, looking up from his work.

"Tony, I need to talk to you."

"I'm listening." He said, but his eyes didn't leave the paper under him. She finally snatched the paper up and threw it onto the ground, "Ziva." He said, looking up at her, "That was rather immature. Could you please pick it up for me?"

She grabbed his shirt by the collar, hoisting him up, "No, Tony, we are going to talk, and we are going to talk _now._" She said, before changing her grip to his arm as she pulled him to the other side of the staircase. She would have used the elevator, but she had a feeling that Gibbs would get suspicious if the elevator had suddenly stopped working and she and Tony were not to be found in the bullpen.

She shoved him up against the orange wall, "Tony, stop it."

"Stop what? You're wrinkling my shirt…"

"Tony!" She almost yelled, "Stop it! Stop acting mature!"

"I thought you wanted me to be mature…"

"You have taken it way too far, Tony, _way _too far. Everyday that goes by, I think about how much I wish that you would go back and being the immature, stupid…fun-loving DiNozzo you were before. And everyday, I come back to work, and you're still the same. You did this for me, Tony, and to be honest, everyday I lose my love for you."

"You love me?" Tony asked, and Ziva let go of him. She couldn't believe that she had actually admitted that to him. She was stuck now, but if she could pull a move, she could get out of it.

"Does not matter anymore." She said as she started to turn away, "You have changed. You are mature DiNozzo now. I think that Gibbs is more immature than you!"

"I can't change back, Ziva." He said, softly.

She didn't know where her mind went, she didn't know, but she just all of a sudden turned around and shoved her lips against his, tangling her hands into his hair and pulling him close to her. She didn't even give him time to react, for she pulled away too quickly, "How about now?" She asked as she let go of him before returning back to the bullpen as quickly as possible, leaving Tony DiNozzo in a daze.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That night, Tony didn't show up at her apartment, but that was only to be suspected. However, the next morning, when she came into work, the mighty mouse stapler was on his messy desk, a half-eaten chocolate bar at the edge, and a half-eaten pizza box sticking out of the trash can. And, sitting in the desk, was the man she fell in love with, the one that wore dress shirts, not tuxedos, the one that was fun-loving and immature.

"Good morning, Tony." she smiled.

He looked up at her, and she realized he had been reading GSM, "Hey, Zi." He grinned his famous DiNozzo grin.

Tony DiNozzo was back.


	11. Drinks?

"You are back!" She smiled, "Thank goodness, you were getting a tad bit on my nerves."

"You mean more than usual?" He grinned and she smiled.

"You never get on my nerves Tony." She said, stepping towards him, "Sometimes you just need to be taught how to…hold onto emotions, yes?"

"Probie!" Tony suddenly called as he sat up, "You're three minutes and thirteen seconds late! What took you so long?"

Tim stopped in his tracks and looked between Tony and Ziva before a huge grin broke onto his face, "You two made up! You're back, Tony."

"Made up?" Tony asked as he stood up, and Ziva's eyes grew wide.

"He meant nothing of it, Tony." Ziva reassured him, "Normally you act differently after we get into a fight." She said, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him from pummeling 'probie'.

"I do not act differently!" He defended himself. He had tried so hard not to...

"Oh yeah?" McGee asked, "Well what about that one time while we were trying to catch Lee and you two 'engaged' and got knocked out? You went into the elevator and then when you came out, you refused to even look at each other."

"No one asked for you opinion, Probie." Tony said as he turned around and came face to face with Gibbs, "Hey, boss! Sorry, boss! McMemory over here was trying to-"

"I don't care what he's trying to do. Welcome back, DiNozzo." He suddenly felt his hand collide with the back of his head, "You do that again, and you will be wishing you were me."

Tony smiled, "Ah, right, boss." he turned to Ziva, "M'lady." She grinned back as Gibbs cleared his throat.

"I think you owe someone an apology." Gibbs suggested.

"Oh yeah." he turned on his heel to his partner, "Sorry, Zi."

"No, DiNozzo, Abby."

"Oh yeah! Ziva, come on, let's go!" He grabbed her hand and then pulled her out of the bullpen and into the elevator.

"Boss?" McGee asked.

"Yeah?"

"Uh…Tony…do you know what made him act like…Tony again?"

Gibbs gave a half-smile as he started back out of the bullpen, "Oh yeah, Tim." He chuckled, "_Oh yeah._"

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Abbynormal!" Tony called out as he jumped into the lab. The forensic scientist quickly turned around.

"TONY!" She screamed before running and wrapping her arms around him, squeezing him tightly as he picked her up and twirled her around. She laughed and Ziva watched from a distance, wishing that Tony could do that to her.

"Ah, boom." He grinned, making sound effects as her platform shoes hit the floor.

"You're back, you're back, you're back!" She flung her arms around him again, "Thank god! I was getting annoyed with the mature Tony."

"So was I, Abs. So was I."

"Then why'd you do it?" She moaned.

Tony hesitated and sighed before looking up, over Abby's shoulder and at Ziva. They both shared a knowing look before Ziva shook her head.

"I'll tell ya later, Abs."They hugged for a couple more minutes before Ziva cleared her throat. Abby let go of Tony before she turned to the doorway, smiling hugely at Ziva.

"Aren't you going to hug the old Tony?" Abby asked, giving her a look that Ziva knew quite well. The 'go ahead' look.

"Ah, that's okay, Abby." Suddenly, Ziva's phone started to vibrate, and she pulled it out, not bothering to look at the caller ID.

"David."

_"Gina?" _she recognized the voice immediately, and she quickly stood up from against the wall and shot a look at Tony. He knew what that look meant, and he moved towards her. She couldn't believe that John was calling her…John of all people!

"Ah, hello, how are you?"

_"I'm great! Hey, look, I was wondering, do you wanna go and, you know, get a couple of drinks or something?"_

"Drinks sound great. When?" She asked, nervously.

_"How about tonight at seven? I'll come pick you up from work. Where do you work?"_

"Actually, how about I just meet you there? Where do you want to get drinks?"

_"Oh, that bar on the corner of 2nd and 3rd street. You know where that is, right?"_

"Yes, I do."

_"Great! See you there!"_

"I can't wait." She said in a tone that obviously told Tony that she was lying, "Bye."

_"Bye."_ And the conversation ended.

"Who was that?" Tony asked, trying to keep the jealousy out of his voice.

"A friend. I'm going out to get a couple of drinks with him tonight. And before you ask, no, you are not invited."

"Ziva, please, let me come, just for protection." He pleaded, grabbing onto her arm.

"I can protect myself." She said, pulling her arm away from out of his grip, "Look, Tony, I appreciate you trying to help me, but I _can _protect myself."

"But Ziva, what if something goes wrong?"

"You will be the first to know." She sighed as she translated what his eyes were flashing at her, "How about this? I go to the bar, and if I am not at your apartment at ten, you can alert Gibbs and ask him to trace a fix on my cell. Do you feel better now?"

"No," He sighed, "But I guess it will work." She felt the sudden urge to kiss his cheek, but she just tentatively put her hand up to the side of his face and patted it once before stroking her thumb against it.

"Do not worry. I will be fine."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Ziva

She decided that, to 'keep Tony's lid on', she would dress 'appropriately' to this outing with John.

She walked into the bar and was surrounded by smoke and people that were obviously drunk, shoving each other around, the noise loud and the sound of music and billiards being played echoing through the bar. She watched in amazement as one man broke the balls, some of them falling off of the table, they hit so hard. She felt the overwhelming urge to reach for her cell phone and dial Tony's number. She already didn't like some of the looks the men were giving her. Instinctively, she pulled out her cell phone and went to dial Tony's number, his caller ID appearing on the screen, when she realized that she was being childish. She shouldn't need 'help', she was Mossad for crying out loud!

Suddenly, she felt two hands on her shoulders, and she quickly turned on her heel, her fists up, ready to punch.

"Whoa, Gina! Calm down, it's only me."

"Oh, John." She laughed and then put her hands down to her sides again, "Let's get a drink, yes?"

"I'd love too." He smiled, and then wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her through the crowd. She couldn't help but feel insecure, and she didn't know exactly what was up, and why she was feeling like he life was on edge.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Probie!" Tony called as he marched into the bullpen, "Run the phone records on Ziva's cell."

"Why?"

"Don't ask, just do it." A couple of clicks and the sound of fingers on the keyboard later, Tony became impatient from pacing. He had a sickening feeling that something wasn't right, and he never had 'gut feelings' like Gibbs. No, he had other feelings. Deeper feelings, that he wasn't quite ready to admit, "You done yet, McSlow?"

"I'm hurrying, Tony…" McGee said, exasperated as he finally hit the enter button as the information appeared on the plasma. Tony's eyes immediately went to it, scanning for the last number.

He pointed to it, "Run this number. Whose it belong to?"

He highlighted the number and ran it through some tests before a criminal record flashed onto the screen, "Uh-oh." McGee said.

"What?" Tony asked, nervously, "I didn't like that sound, McGee, what the hell is wrong?"

"Uh…this…whoever Ziva called was charged for double homicide six years ago."

"Name?"

"John Bellville."

Tony's heart nearly stopped. That was the name of the same guy that Ziva had danced with in the club…the same one that made him extremely jealous…

"Another uh-oh, Tony, you aren't gonna like this."

"You gonna tell me, McGee or are you just gonna sit on your ass?" Tony asked, fuming. He never felt so left out. He never felt so…helpless. He ran a nervous hand through his hair.

"I ran John's cell phone records…twenty calls to the same number over the past couple of months, the time of death that the killer started killing. I traced that number and it belongs to…" Travis Davis' portfolio appeared onto the screen, and Tony _freaked out. _That was the only way to describe it. He kicked McGee's desk and then spun around in a circle before taking in a deep breath.

"Trace her cell, McGee!" He demanded, "Where is she?"

"Bar."

"Address?" He fumed, demanding, not wanting anything but the answers he needed. Ziva was in the hands of a serial killer, and he wasn't quite fond of it. He ripped the sticky note out of McGee's hands before moving over to his desk and holstering his gun, his badge, and grabbing his car keys.

"Need a government car?" McGee asked.

"No!" Tony yelled back as he started out of the bullpen. Okay, more like stormed out. McGee stood up.

"Need any backup?"

"NO!"

"Need-"

"McGee, all I need is _my_ Ziva back!"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ziva sipped her Mojito carefully, it was only her second of the night, and yet she was starting to feel a little light-headed. The room shifted, and she tried to remember just exactly how many drinks she had drunk. She could only remember two, and she swore that she _only drank two. _

"Having a good time, Gina?"She nodded her head. Since when was she not in control of her thoughts?

"You know, it's getting late. Wanna take a little stroll down by the park?"

_NO! _Her mind screamed at her, _You need to get back to Tony! _But, instead, she said the opposite of what her mind thought, "Sure," She smiled before she was holstered up from the chair, his arms wrapped around hers as he led her out of the bar. They walked down a couple of paths until they were in a deserted parking lot behind a delicatessen.

Suddenly, her feet were knocked out from under her, and her head thanked against the ground before taking a painful blow into the stomach. She didn't feel any of her limbs, and then something hard and metal collided with her skull, rebounding off her head in an excruciating pain before the whole world went black.

John took a look at his work before he quickly picked her up and threw her into the back of his truck, grabbing the roll of duck tape and placing it over her mouth. He then did the same process with her wrists and her ankles before taking rope and tying it over her ankles and her wrists. He finished off by covering her with a blue tarp before getting into the car and starting the engine. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed, "Hey Travis, it's me….yeah, I got the girl…same place as always? Sweet….yeah, see you there….great…" And he hung up the phone as he started the engine and took off.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tony barely turned off the car before he was out of it, his heart pounding as he ran towards the bar. Suddenly, his cell phone went off. Growling incoherent things about Gibbs, he pulled out his cell phone as he hurried into the bar. It was only then that he realized it was McGee.

His heart, if it was possible, started beating louder than before, "Probie, whatdya want?"

"She's moved, Tony. I'm sending Gibbs out there with you-"

"No, don't! I've…I've got this." he started back towards his car, "Send me the coordinates, McGPS, I'll figure out how to get there."

"Tony, you sure? I mean-"

"Just do it, McGee!" He snapped as he closed the phone and started the engine before starting down the road to…well to be honest, he had no idea. All he knew was that he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't sleep, he wouldn't even go to the bathroom before Ziva was found. And even though Tony DiNozzo never made promises, this was one he was going to keep.

Even if he had to bet his whole entire movie collection on it.

Including the limited edition, platinum, autographed by Sean Connery James Bond series set he inherited a couple of years ago.

Anything for Ziva.


	12. Weakness

"Where's DiNozzo and David?" Gibbs questioned McGee as he strolled into the bullpen, eyeing the two empty desk. He sighed, "Don't tell me they're using my elevator…" McGee suddenly stood up, grabbing his gear. "McGee, what the hell are you doing?"

"Ziva's in trouble." McGee said, holstering his gun and grabbing his cell off of the table before reaching to put his computer in stand-by mode, "She went on a date with that John guy from the club. Tony got worried and asked me to track her phone records. John called her to go out on a date. Traced the number back, the guy has a criminal record as well as ties with Travis Davis. Tony took off after her and now she's gone from the bar. She's moving. I don't know how long we have until he takes her cell, so we have to move quickly." McGee said, looking up at the boss' murderous face.

"DiNozzo went in there without _back-up?" _

McGee nodded his head, "Yes, but I tried to stop him! I really did! All he shouted was something about 'my Ziva'. I don't even know, but we gotta catch up."Gibbs gave a half-smile as he started towards his desk, holstering his SIG and badge, "Gotta give DiNozzo some credit. You stay here." He said, pointing to his desk, "We need to know if she moves." he held up his cell as he started quickly out of the bullpen, "Stay on the phone with me the entire time, McGee!"

"Got it boss!" McGee said as he sat down and put his SIG away, starting up his computer again. Boss was right. He had to at least give DiNozzo some credit.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ziva groaned and realized it was muffled as her eyes fluttered open, revealing an abandon, windowless, dirty room to her eyes. The thing that scared her most was the large amounts of blood stains on the wall as well as the obvious bullet holes in the dirtied concrete.

She was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, her mouth duck taped as well as her hands and her feet. She struggled in the grip, but no prevail.

"Ah, you're awake." She shot her head to the corner and glared at her captor; John. She felt a huge headache coming on.

"Hangover. Date rape drug. Helps a lot." He said, as if reading her mind as he pointed to the box in the other corner of the room, "We were going to kill you slower, but then we did some background research and realized who you really were. Mind telling us your real name?"

She just stared at him, not willing to say anything. Besides, she couldn't say anything even if she wanted to, thanks to the duck tape over her mouth.

"Oh yeah," He smirked an evil smirk and then came over and ripped the tape off of her mouth. She tried hard not to scream as she bit the inside of her lip, her head turned away from him, "What's your name?" He asked, his face dangerously close to his. She suddenly felt a knife close to her throat, "What is your name? I will not ask you again." Again, she didn't say anything. She suddenly felt the blade against her shoulder, and the tip was tracing a line down her entire arm. She bit back tears as well as a scream. She wasn't going to give him a reaction, "What is your name? Or I will kill that little Tony DiNozzo of yours, hm?" Her eyes shot up to his, murderous.

"Ziva David." She spat.

"Ah, I've found your weakness."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tony floored the pedal of his Mustang, hoping that all cops were off duty or on a coffee/donut break. McGee had sent him the coordinates to an abandon building in Prince William County. Almost an hour away, if he hit traffic, and cops. How'd he get her there so fast? He checked the time. Almost midnight. He had to get to Ziva, and he had to get to her fast. But how come he had a sickening feeling that he may not get to her in time? That she may be dead before he made it there? But she's Mossad, like she said, she can handle herself, but that didn't convince Tony. And, if they drugged her, as was almost as good as gone. A drugged Ziva is not a pretty one.

100...110.…120.…the car's speed continued to escalate, and he silently thanked himself for getting the 'governmental car' upgrades, which basically meant changing out the engine in his car for a motorcycles.

He had to make it there even if she had just one breath left. He needed to tell her he had gone and done the one thing he should never have done. He had gone and fallen head over heels in love with her.

130...140.…

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Gibbs maneuvered through the patch of cars, their horns blaring at him as he slowly increased speed. He could 'see' Tony's coordinates, which were further ahead than him. When he caught up, he was going to give him the biggest head slap he'd ever felt. Going in without back-up? Breaking rule twelve? That was at least two. He growled as he passed an old woman behind the wheel of a Cadillac. She shook her fist at him and then promptly flicked him off, which caused Gibbs to smirk, "I hate it when old people drive."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ziva watched as she felt the blood pour out of the new wound he had just inflicted to her thigh. One line spread down the middle, and yet the blood was pooling over as if he had cut open her whole body. She could hear the splatter of droplets on the ground as it slipped over.

"Where is he?" He asked again, but when Ziva didn't answer, he just drew a line down her calf, "Where is he? I will kill him," He reached for her pocket and pulled out her cell phone before smirking and waving it in front of her face. She didn't flinch, "I can track him down." he turned to the doorway, "Travis!" The other man from the club walked out.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Not yet." John replied, and he flipped him the cell phone, "Track Mr. DiNozzo. Then cut him off. We don't want anything standing in the way of our operation." Ziva could feel the tear falling down her face, "Shh, Shh…" he said, almost mocking, "Don't cry. He won't care when you're dead. You're just a burden. I mean, a Mossad Assassin and an ex-cop? He won't feel as intimidated. You'll be gracing him with your death."

"How can you say such a thing?!" Ziva suddenly cried out as Travis re-entered.

"DiNozzo's on his way from DC. He's about ten minutes away, what should we do?"

"I guess torture can wait. I'll just kill her now, you go and cut him off."

Travis smiled, "Have a nice last moments." He said to Ziva before he disappeared from the building. The sound of a car starting as pulling out and down the gravel path broke through her thoughts, and John pulled up a rope, a knife, and a gun.

"Which technique should we use?" he asked, "Strangle you, stab you, or just get it over with and shoot you?" She didn't answer, she just wanted to stall time for Gibbs to Tony to get here. Maybe Gibbs was in front of Tony, maybe he would get here first.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Gibbs cell phone started to ring, and he picked it up. It was McGee, "Gibbs! Ziva's cell has either been turned off or the GPS has been deactivated, boss, I have no idea where she is."

"Damn it, McGee!" Gibbs yelled, "Send me her last known coordinates."

"Gotta go and tell Ton-"

"No! Don't tell Tony, I don't want him to worry anymore than he already is." He said before closing the phone, "Damn it DiNozzo." He muttered as he accelerated the car forward.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"I'm liking the knife method, what do you think?" He asked as he completed the same wounds to the other side of her body. She felt weak, "I also like patterns. If you couldn't tell." Ziva knew that if she wanted to spare time, she would have to act before she finally passed out from blood loss. She noticed the large pool of blood under her body, and she groaned as he put the knife close to her throat, "Any last words?" He asked, and, using all her strength, she swung the chair around, it colliding with his body as the knife clattered on the floor. She lost her balance and fell on her side before crying out in pain. Not because she landed on her open wounds, no, because the knife had manage to slice open her thigh, sideways. She heard a gun-shot as her vision became faded, and the man under her ceased movement.

"Ziva!" She heard someone cry as she looked up, trying to keep her vision normal as she tried to decipher who they were. Tony? Gibbs?

"Tony…Tony…." She could almost feel all feeling leave her body, it was numb. She struggled to breath.

"Shh, sweet cheeks." His voice was calm as he untied her and took off the duck tape, carefully before he brought her into his lap and tended her to her wounds.

"Tony I am all….bloody…"

"Shh, Ziva…shhh…" She was heavily breathing as she whimpered out, pain roaring through her body whilst Tony was pulling out the knife lodged in her thigh. He took off his tie and wrapped it around the knife stab in her thigh before calling 911 and trying to quickly wipe off of the blood using his jacket.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs called as he ran into the building. To Ziva, his voice was just an echo as she felt the darkness slowly surrounding her eyes, "You call an ambulance?"

Tony just nodded his head as Gibbs bent down next to her, her head turned into Tony's chest, "She took a hell of a hit." He commented, but DiNozzo didn't listen. He just stared at her, her eyes slowly fading as she reached up and touched his face. Gibbs admired the two, watching to see what they would do.

"Zi, you gotta stay with me, okay? It's fine, everything's fine. The ambulance is on its way." He turned his attention to the boss, "She's losing too much blood boss." He said, and it was only then that Gibbs noticed that the senior field agent was covered in her blood, his striped white shirt now red, his hands covered in her blood. However, he didn't seem phased by it.

"Tony I lov…" Her words died, and she had never felt so close to dying. She was losing lots of blood, and she could almost feel her heart's 'countdown to death'. Her head was pounding, her heart was barely working, her vision was blurry, the black walls were caving in, and her whole body was screaming out in pain.

"Ziva, stay away, okay? Sweetheart, stay awake." Gibbs could have sworn he saw a tear or two threatening to fall in Tony's eyes.

"Tony…" She breathed as he and his boss both noticed that her eyes weren't going to stay open for much longer.

"I love you." Tony muttered before Ziva slipped into unconsciousness, falling out of his open arms and onto the floor, her limbs limp. Her head dropped to one side, and she wasn't breathing. Tony didn't even check to see if she had a pulse, because, by the looks of it, she didn't have one.


	13. Hospitals

**So I KNOW that I already updated, but I wanted to update SO BADLY. I could finish updating the rest of the story today, if I wanted to...sigh...well here you go. Enjoy and review please!**

Tony DiNozzo hated hospitals.

He hated them with a burning passion.

Even before he got the plague, but especially after he got the plague. But now, at this very moment, he hated them even more. She shouldn't be in here, she shouldn't be fighting for her life in emergency surgery. He rested his head in his hands, not caring that his hands and body were still covered in her blood. The seat began to hurt under his body, and he felt the sudden urge to kick something. He had already gotten his revenge, times two, shooting John in the head while literally running over Travis in his run to save her. But how come that wasn't enough? How come he didn't feel like he had fulfilled anything? He felt a sickening tug on his heart as he realized what didn't feel right. Ziva wasn't here beside him…

Suddenly, a cup appeared in front of him, and he looked up, at his boss, before taking it, but not sipping it. He stared down at the hot, brown liquid, swirling it around a little before looking back up at Gibbs, "Thank you, boss."

Jethro didn't say anything, he just sat down next to him, leaning forward a little and grasping his coffee cup with two hands, between his parted legs. He looked forward a little, took a sip, and then returned the cup back to its previous position. He decided that now wouldn't be the best time to tell Tony that he had just gotten off of the phone with Vance, who was going to show up to the hospital expecting a report of Ziva's situation to tell to the Director of Mossad. He turned his head to the left to look at his senior field agent as he spoke in a quiet voice, "What's her status?"

Tony stared down at the liquid and noticed that it was the same color of Ziva's eyes. The last time he saw her eyes was right after she muttered his name and then slipped into unconsciousness, her dark eyes dilated to almost twice their normal size, "She's lost a lot of blood boss." He started, quietly, not looking up, "She's been in there for almost an hour." He changed his direction from nothing in particular to his boss' piercing blue stare, "What if she doesn't survive? She had already died in the ambulance before they had to re-start her heart." Tony sighed and looked back down at the coffee cup in his hands as he remembered the memory. His entire heart stopped beating, and he remembered the lifeless Ziva David laying in the bright lights of the whirring ambulance, all movement ceased from her as the paramedics in the back with him quickly pulled out the heart defibrillator and shouted orders at one another…

He suddenly stood up and Abby, who had just gotten out of the elevator with McGee, immediately ran over to him, going to wrap her arms around him when he stopped her, pointing down to his blood covered suit. He knew that Abby was quite fond of her outfits, and even though she enjoyed blood, he didn't think that she'd like it on her.

"Tony, you poor baby." Abby said, wrapping her arms around the one part that wasn't covered in blood; his left arm, "How's Ziva? Is she all right? Oh, Tony." She sobbed before changing her grip to Tim, hugging him tightly. So tightly that he stumbled backwards, wincing from the amount of air being shoved out of him, "Ziva!" She wailed.

"You okay?" McGee asked Tony over Abby's shoulder.

"Fine, Tim." Tony said, before pushing past him and towards the nurses' station. McGee let go of Abby, who was feverishly wiping away tears from her mascara streaked face to stare after Tony, her arms never leaving McGee's.

"He really…loves her, doesn't he, boss?" McGee asked as Gibbs just stared after the senior field agent, who left the nurses station with a look on his face that almost broke Gibbs heart in two before he started wandering aimlessly.

Gibbs looked down at his hands, "When you're protecting your partner from everything, when you place your life in their hands, it's kinda hard not to, McGee. I should have seen it coming…I should have been able to prevent this."

"Speaking from personal experience, boss?" McGee dared to ask as Abby sent Timothy a glare before softly smacking him in the arm.

Gibbs didn't say anything. The thought of Jenny was just too painful to bring up, especially considering the present circumstances. Jen wouldn't want him to talk about their past relationships in front of Tony, who had truly fallen in love this time. Not just because he was 'forced to' on a dumb undercover mission. No matter if she was dead or not, Gibbs would never forgive Jenny for that. Not only did it create a tear between partners, but it also proved the cases to be slower than predicted, for Tony wasn't around for most of them. And if Tony wasn't around, Ziva would be more worried about Tony than about the case, especially if he 'went to the Doctors'. It tore the partner's apart. Ziva felt that Tony couldn't trust her, which hurt her, deeply, Gibbs could tell by the looks on her face whenever Tony was on the phone with Jeanne. He shook his head._No need to dwell in the past, Jethro. _He almost heard Jenny talk to him, _They need you right now. The team needs you right now. _

It was two hours too long it took for Ziva to come out of surgery, and Gibbs thought that Tony was going to explode. Thankfully, the doors to the ER opened, Tony, once again, swung his head so hard in the direction of the doors that he thought he might get whiplash, and Gibbs could practically see the relief on his senior field agent's face when the ER doctor said, "Family for Ziva Day-vid?" No one bothered to correct him as Abby, McGee, Tony, Gibbs, and Ducky, who arrived later, all jumped up to rush towards the ER doctor.

"How is she?" Tony asked, nearly jumping he was so nervous.

The ER Doctor looked him over once, "And how are you related to her, Mr. DiNozzo?"

Tony wanted to punch the man right then and there, Jethro could tell but he spoke up, "He's her fiancé." He heard himself saying, but then realized that he couldn't take it back even if he wanted to, "Mind telling us her condition, or are you just going to play the name game?" Tony shot a look at his boss, in utter disbelief, but Gibbs didn't seem phased by it.

"Right. Well Ms. David has just come out of surgery, however, she is still unconscious. We didn't put her under during the surgery, for we had to do it quickly but we did inject anesthesia before we did the immediate surgery. She had many wounds and we had to admit blood into her system, for she was losing too much. However, she is still unconscious, and the doctor's fear that she slipped into a coma in the ambulance. They are skeptical that she'll wake up. I'm sorry."

Abby gasped and her hands shot to her face as he buried her head in McGee's shoulder. Ducky placed a reassuring hand on the forensic scientist's shoulder.

Tony's heart almost stopped. He blinked, once, twice, as the reality of life came roaring back to her, "Wait, so you're saying that she'll….die?"

The doctor took in a deep breath. This was obviously the first time that he had to do something like this, "In a sense, yes. The odds of her coming out of the coma are very slim, 15 in 100 people have woken from a coma under similar circumstances. They of course had lost less blood but, the chances are still slim. Whatever you said last to her will be the only thing she'll live on. The last words that she heard before she fell unconscious are the last things she will remember. However, If she does come out of the coma, she'll most likely forget her memory, only able to remember her childhood, but, like I said, the chances of her arising from the coma are very slim. We will soon be running the tomography scan of the brain, to try to figure out just what exactly rendered the coma before we continue any other extensive analysis. I am sorry, to all of you."

"Can I…can I see her?" Tony asked, trying to calm down his heart rate. This couldn't be happening to him. Losing all of the women in his life...first Kate, and then Paula, and then Jeanne, and then Jenny...he couldn't lost Ziva. Not Ziva. Anyone but _Ziva. _He briefly thought that he may rather want to loose Abby than Ziva, but he knew that that was a thought that he couldn't..._wouldn't _think about. He scolded himself for thinking such things. Maybe this was all just a bad dream, and none of it ever happened. Why had he been so stupid as to let her go out on that date? How could he not have seen that coming? Why had he actually listened to her and not followed her? He hated himself for it.

"I don't…"

"He needs to see her." Gibbs spoke up, and Tony shared a look with his boss before the doctor sighed and admitted him through the doors in the ICU unit. He had to remember to thank him for that later.

He opened up the door and then typed in the password for her room. _Slick. _He thought as he stopped in the doorway, unable to move. She looked worse than before, her face completely white, the stitches and wounds closed, yet bleeding with large bandages on it. A tube was attached to her nose to allow her to breathe, and an IV was placed in her to administer food and drink to her body as well as extra blood as her body needed it.

"Sir, would you mind stepping in?" The doctor asked, "You can't stand in the doorway."

"Could I…have some time alone, please?" Tony asked, and the doctor sighed and looked around.

"As long as you don't touch any of the equipment." He said before leaving the room and locking the door behind him. Tony carefully stepped towards her, trying to fight the urge to throw up or pass out.

"So….nice place you got here, Zi." He smiled, trying to joke through it, "You know, kind of reminds me of _While You Were Sleeping_, you know, that movie where the woman saves the guy from the train when the bullies push him on the track? Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, 1995? Good Christmas movie. Anyways, so the woman saves this guy she's been crushing on for a while and then takes him to the Emergency Room on Christmas Eve, and his family comes in, and they're a bunch of whack jobs, and the Nurse says that she's his fiancée, which flips everything upside down because the whole family now thinks they're engaged. And so he's in a coma, the guy that she saved from the railroad track, and while he's in the coma, she goes and falls in love with his _brother_! And then everything is thrown out of whack, and she tries to tell them she's not his fiancée and…" He sighed, "You're not interested. I get it."

He sat down in the seat, staring at her, her face dirty, but barely scratched, only a small one on her eyebrow, which was taped up, like the rest of the wounds on her body, The only sound in the room was the soft beeping of the heart monitor as Tony sighed and stared at her.

"I meant what I said before. About loving you and all. I have for a long time, really, I have. I just got enough guts to say it when you're slipping into a coma. Come on, you're Mossad, you can deal with this. And what am I going to say to Daddy Dearest when he finds out you're in a coma? I know, he's gonna _freak out_. And hey, I've never met your Dad, but trust me, I've met Vance, and I don't want to piss him off either."

He sighed and sat in silence for a while, looking at his hands before he stood up, "I think I have to go, Zi. Wake up. For me. If you wake up and you don't want to be with NCIS anymore, that's okay. I'll resign with you. Even if Gibbs protests. We'll run off and get married and live in Mexico and drink Margaritas all day long and just be…free."

He felt the sudden urge to bend down and kiss her on the lips, but he decided not to. He didn't want to set some 'alarm' off or anything and then be banned from the hospital. He started for the door, not letting his eyes leave Ziva's for a moment, "Oh," He grinned him famous DiNozzo smile, "And don't worry. I won't fall in love with your brother while you're in a coma…or sister for that matter. So don't worry, sweetheart."


	14. Imagine

_One week later…_

Gibbs sighed and walked out of the Director's office. Not only was he going to have to deal with Director David if Ziva didn't wake up, but he'd have to look at Tony again. He placed his hands on the balcony and stared down into the bullpen, his eyes resting on his senior field agent.

His head was in his hands, on his desk, the area around him messier than usual, his eyes fixated on Ziva's desk. He knew that it was hard on everyone, and it was exceptionally hard on Tony DiNozzo. He sighed as he started down the stairs. He didn't want to do this, not to Tony. A replacement of Ziva would be horrible for him, that would almost be like she was gone forever. He glanced down at his watch as he descended down the stairs and frowned as he realized that it was 1230h, which was normally Tony's off break for an hour to go and visit Ziva in the hospital. His break would be for a couple of hours, starting at 1200h, one hour to visit Ziva and then another to 'collect himself'. The elevator doors chimed open, and he watched as the replacement walked out. McGee's eyes quickly snapped up to the elevator doors before greeting his boss.

"Afternoon, boss." Gibbs nodded at McGee before stopping in front of the entrance to the bullpen. The new recruit, a box full of her stuff, stopped in front of Gibbs.

"Special Agent Gibbs?" She asked, "I'm Lindsay Trace. The replacement for Officer David?" She asked, sticking out her hand. Gibbs watched as his senior field agent's head snapped up at the word 'replacement'. It was only then that Gibbs realized that Tony's eyes seemed darker than normal.

Gibbs sighed, _Tony, what the hell are you doing to yourself? _He felt the urge to smack him for draining his life just like Ziva's life was draining, but he only knew that that wouldn't be proper.

"Replacement?" Tony asked, "What replacement? She didn't…" he looked down at his watch, "I'm late…" he flipped out his cell phone, "The hospital didn't call me…did she…is Ziva…?" Tony asked before Gibbs finally caught on to what he was trying to say.

"No, you idio…DiNozzo, she's not dead." Gibbs turned back to the confused new recruit, "Agent Trace. Make yourself comfortable." He said before shooting a look at Tony, and the recruit made its way to Ziva's desk, getting ready to set her stuff down on top of it when McGee stopped her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said, and she furrowed her eyebrows together. McGee had to admit that she was rather pretty, long brown hair that bobbed on her shoulders as she walked, and a cute, small face with a dashing smile. He was surprised that Tony didn't say anything…well, actually, he wasn't. This was a Tony he'd never seen before, and it was nice to see someone who cared.

"Why not?" She asked, and McGee walked over to her, taking a quick look at Tony, who returned to his position with his head in his hands.

"Uh…I'll tell you later. How about you go and sit over there?" he asked, pointing to the 'new recruit' desk in the corner. She sighed.

"Great. So you guys working on any cases?"

"Just Tony's head case."

"Shut the hell up, McGee!" Tony suddenly said, standing up and shoving his chair in, "I don't need any of your bull shit, all right? I'm gonna go see Ziva now, if you don't _mind, _probie. Tell boss I'm taking my time off starting now." He said before snatching his keys and cell phone up before glaring at McGee one more time before heading towards the elevator.

"Who's Ziva?" Lindsay asked, and McGee smiled at her.

"Officer David. Tony's partner. And something more."

"Oh." She said, smiling a little, "That's cute. Do you have a picture of her?"

McGee thought for a minute before a thought crossed his mind, "As a matter of fact, I do. I was supposed to delete them, after Ziva threatened to kill me if I didn't destroy them as well as poke out my eyes, both of them. Of course I didn't. Photo credit goes directly to Agent DiNozzo himself."

"Agent DiNozzo….that's the guy that's Ziva's partner." She said, looking up at Tim, "Right?"

"Yup." McGee smiled as he clicked on the file on his computer. The three pictures popped up, and Lindsay smiled.

"She's gorgeous. And by the way, I'm not lesbian, but those are _hot _pictures! Jeez." She said before looking around and bending down, lowering her voice, "Has Agent Gibbs seen these?" McGee looked around too and bent down next to her.

"Nope. And I don't plan on him to. Seems like you know the personalities of the team already. Well most of it. Tony doesn't act like that all the time, and Ziva…you've never met her. I'm sure you'd love our forensic scientist, come on, let's go!"

"Okay!" She smiled before following him out of the bullpen.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Tony!" The short Asian woman behind the counter called out, running towards him, her hands wide before smiling and throwing her arms around him, "How is my favorite Tony?"

"Just fine." Tony said, giving a small, sad smile.

"Great!" She said, her Chinese accent thick, "The same as usual? A dozen red roses?"

"Yup. And a card." He said, and she grabbed the bouquet out of the fridge, holding him the bouquet.

"I already made it up for you, hope you don't mind."

"Not at all, Pauline." He smiled, "Thanks for putting up with me for the last week."

"Well tell me, Anthony DiNozzo, when will I finally meet this 'Ziva' of yours, hmmm?"

Tony signed the credit card slip and then took the bouquet, "Hopefully soon." He said before nodding goodbye to her and then leaving the florist in the Hospital.

A couple of doctors came out and nodded their 'hellos' to him, and he just nodded back, smiling with his lips closed as he stepped into the elevator. Ziva was still in ICU, for they couldn't move her out of there until she got out of the coma…or she died. Tony shuddered at the thought. She couldn't die. Not _Ziva. _Tony didn't understand what exactly he did in his life to deserve such a horrible punishment, to lose all of the women in his life? The last week had been pure torture, pure hell, each day slowing down and making the seconds tick by slower. The elevator doors suddenly opened, and, without signing it, he walked right into the ICU unit.

He didn't ask. He didn't need to. He had been spending his nights there when Gibbs didn't know it, holding Ziva's hand as he slept awkwardly in the chair; he wanted to be the first one to know that Ziva was awake. If he could stay there the entire day, he would, and he wouldn't even need a movie. Okay, he lied. He could need at least one a day, but still, he could just watch her all day and he'd be happy. Well not…happy…until she woke up.

He hummed a song to himself as he walked down the corridor towards Ziva's door. He peeped through the glass door to see his Israeli's face when all of a sudden he stopped in his tracks. There were about four or five doctors in the room, the ones on the other side of the bed covered in blood coated scrubs, masks on their faces as they hurried around frantically. He saw a jolt of her legs from underneath the covers, and even through the glass, he could still hear them shouting orders at each other. "Clear!" He heard someone scream as they held her down before Tony saw them use the heart defibrillator again. Everything else was just a blur as a Doctor came running out, throwing off his mask.

"We need doctors in emergency surgery right now! We've got a patient who's gone into hypovolemic shock during her coma! Her blood supply got cut off nearly twelve to twenty hours ago. We need to do emergency surgery before we lose her! NOW!" And that was when Tony did the most unmanly thing he'd ever done in the entire world; he let a lone tear fall down his face as he stared down at the ground. And, as if someone had turned on the water, all of the tears flowed out, he couldn't stop it. He looked up and blinked as he watched Ziva get moved quickly out of the ICU unit and down to the ER. A couple of Doctors ran out of other, unknown doors to Tony, and hastily put on their jackets, shouting orders to one another. He stifled his sobs and tried to pull himself together as he pulled out his cell phone.

"_Yeah, Gibbs."_

"B…boss…" Tony sniffled, as that he couldn't keep the sound of him crying out of the atmosphere. _Stop it Tony! Not with Gibbs! No! _He quickly wiped away his tears.

_"Tony? That you? You don't sound too good, what's wrong? She didn't…Tony, she didn't…she's not…gone, is she? No, she's not. I would have felt it. I didn't give her permission to die."_

"No, boss." Tony said, "She just went into hypovolemic shock...whatever that means. Apparently her b-blood supply was cut off nearly twelve hours ago. She's undergoing surgery now."

_"I'll be there. Just hold on, Tony."_

"Right." Tony mumbled as he closed his phone, staring back into the room that Ziva had previously occupied, the many bouquets of red roses sitting there, in the window sill. A couple 'Get Well Soon' balloons from McGee and Abby were dangling there as well, and Tony sighed as he stared down at the floor, noticing the trampled over red roses that had been so full of life just seconds before, and then deprived of life seconds later, "Just like Ziva." Tony muttered as he sat down on the bench, wondering just how much he could take before he finally snapped. No movie he could recall had been in as bad a situation as he was in.

He sighed. He couldn't even imagine life without her. Sure, she yelled at him, sure, they had their fights, but they had managed to pick out the good in each other, they had managed to trust each other completely in the others hands. Either Ziva was trusting her life in Tony's hands more than before, or God was testing his power of whether or not he truly was in love with her, he didn't know.

However, if he lost Ziva, he knew one thing; one was good, and one was bad. The bad part was that he was going to resign from NCIS. He knew that Gibbs would oppose it at all costs, but Tony didn't feel like walking in places where he knew he was going to have such fond memories of her. He'd move to some other place, like Texas or Minnesota, or maybe even move back to Ohio. But definitely not DC or LA. The other thing he knew, the one good thing he knew, was that he knew that the last thing that Ziva had in her mind were the words he'd been trying to find for four years, all summed up in three little ones: I love you.

At least she would know.

But he couldn't even imagine how he would have felt if he hadn't told her that. If he lost her, and he didn't tell her that? He couldn't imagine the guilt he would have felt, just like he couldn't imagine growing up for anyone but her, couldn't imagine wanting someone to stay alive so badly before in his life, couldn't imagine placing his life into anyone else's hands every day, and couldn't imagine falling this deeply in love with anyone but her.

_Imagine there's no heaven  
It's easy if you try  
No hell below us  
Above us only sky  
Imagine all the people  
Living for today..._

Imagine there's no countries  
It isn't hard to do  
Nothing to kill or die for  
And no religion too  
Imagine all the people  
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer  
But I'm not the only one  
I hope someday you'll join us  
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions  
I wonder if you can  
No need for greed or hunger  
A brotherhood of man  
Imagine all the people  
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer  
But I'm not the only one  
I hope someday you'll join us  
And the world will live as one

Imagine, John Lennon


	15. Director David

Jethro Gibbs couldn't believe his eyes. Tony DiNozzo, _his _senior field agent, _his _Tony DiNozzo was actually crying. Over Ziva of all people. He knew he wasn't comfortable with crying in front of anyone, in fact, he knew that the thing he hated most in this world was the ability to cry. But here he was, biting the inside of his lip, blinking more times than Gibbs could count, his head glancing up at the floor for just a second or two at the ER doors before looking back down at the ground.

"Tony." Gibbs said, softly, and his senior field agent looked up at him, blinking even more rapidly than before, "She'll be okay. Trust me on this."

"How come I can't?" Tony asked, his voice cracking, "At least she knows. Before she dies, at least she knows."

"Knows you care." Gibbs commented.

"Yeah. Knows I did the one thing I shouldn't have done." He stood up, taking his anger out. His sadness quickly changed, "I did the one thing you warned me of doing. All those years with Kate. Don't date your partner. Don't fall in love with your partner. Well for your information, Ziva isn't Kate, and I'm sure as hell glad that she isn't. I almost wanna go out to Tel Aviv and thank Ari for god damn shooting Kate. If it wasn't for him, I never would have met Ziva. And if I never met Ziva, I would never have felt this way about anyone in my life. Probably never would have fallen so deeply in love. Probably never would have wanted to resign if she dies. I'm glad Ari shot Kate. Because if she didn't, Ziva wouldn't be here, and Kate would still be here. I can't believe I'd actually say that, but I did. So if you'd excuse me, boss, I'm gonna go and check on the status of my partner. My real partner," He started to walk away, and Gibbs wanted to reach out and grab him, but he stopped. He knew that Tony was upset, and probably didn't mean half the things he said about Kate and Ari, but all he knew was that he needed to vent.

Suddenly, his cell phone rang, and he groaned, pulling it out, "Yeah, Gibbs."

_"Director David's plane just landed. Surprise visit for Ziva. She's still not awake, is she?"  
_

Gibbs could feel the lump sitting in his throat as he watched his senior field agent pace outside of the ER doors, "No, Leon, much worse."

_"Worse? Gibbs what the hell are you talking about? She's not dead, is she?"_

"Not yet."

_"Gibbs! Gibbs you hang up this phone and I will-"_

"She's in emergency surgery right now. Apparently went into hypovolemic shock due to the cut off of blood flow."

"_How's DiNozzo holding up?"  
_

"Well…" Gibbs smirked, but took note that Vance actually asked a caring question about his team, "He just told me he was happy that Ari shot Kate."

"_I see." _He muttered, _"I have to send a couple NCIS agents to go and pick up the Director. Anyone in particular you'd like to send?"_

"McGee and Trace."

_"Trace?_"

"Yeah, Leon, you know, the new recruit you forced my team with?"

_"Oh yeah. You willing to let her have a job this big?" _

"Yeah, I'm ready. My gut's not acting up on this one."

"_Fine. Keep DiNozzo from destroying the hospital, and get Ziva out of that emergency room!" _

Gibbs just closed his phone, "DiNozzo!" He barked, and Tony's head snapped up, "Get over here."

Tony walked over and stood in front of him, "Yeah?"

"I just got a call from Vance. Director David's plane just landed."

"Well did you tell him that Ziva's still in emergency surgery?"

"Yeah I-" And suddenly, the Emergency Room doors' opened, and a couple of doctor's held them open as Ziva was rolled out of the emergency room.

Gibbs immediately turned to watch his senior field agent's reaction, which was complete shock. She was still limp, but badly torn up, a bag of blood being towed next to her. She went into her previous room, and about fifteen minutes later, the doctor's walked out.

"Hey…how is she?" Tony asked, concern evident in his eyes.

"She survived the emergency surgery. Blood is flowing through her veins. However, we're still skeptical on whether she'll wake up or not. She still has to regain the pints of blood she has lost. She lost so much, it was amazing that she was still alive and mumbling when you saved her, Agent DiNozzo."

"So she'll survive?"

"We don't know."

"Well you better figure out," Gibbs commanded, his blue eyes icing over as he heard someone muttering angry Hebrew as he burst through the doors of the ICU unit. A half-smile spread on Gibbs face as he looked back at the doctor, "Her dad's here. Meet Mossad Director Eli David."

"Agent Gibbs!" Eli called, "Where is she? Where is my daughter?" He demanded, his face red with anger as an out of breath McGee and Trace ran into the emergency room before panting next to Gibbs.

"Director David, in that room." Gibbs said, pointing to the door, "I don't think that-" Gibbs started, but it didn't matter. Eli burst through the door before shouting loudly in Hebrew, causing half of the hospital to turn and look at him. It was only then that he realized that Tony was wringing his hands together, something he only did when he was nervous. Suddenly, they heard a loud beeping coming from Ziva's room, and a thrashing around before they heard something that made doctors jump up and start shouting orders at one another, and made Tony's heart leap out of his chest, tears almost forming at his eyes as he grinned in disbelief at his boss.

"TONY!" It was her. Her sweet, Israeli voice bringing hope and joy to the senior field agent's composition.

She woke up.

**Review? :) **


	16. Why I Woke Up

Tony couldn't have run into Ziva's room faster. He was shoving past Eli, who moved into the corner, almost as if admiring his work. He quickly rushed over and grabbed Ziva's hand, squeezing it firmly, but not tightly as the Doctor's came rushing in, trying to calm her down.

"Ms. David? You're to have to calm down, all right? Calm down." One of the nurses said as she shouted across the room, "Hey, Susie, I need a wet cloth…" She nodded as the other Doctor, the male one, checked the computer monitors, none of them making any sense to Tony.

"We need to get her to clam down…her heart rate is rapidly escalating. She's got enough blood in her system. Get her to stop fidgeting, hold her down!"

Tony stared at the wincing of Ziva's face, "Tony…Tony…" She spoke, her words breathless, "Tony…Tony…no…Tony…Tony…no…" Her eyes were squeezed tight, moving back and forth on the bed, as if she was having a nightmare.

"Shh…I'm here, Zi. It's all right. Everything's all right." He said as he started to calmly rub his thumb on the back of her palm, desperately trying to calm her down as he felt her squeeze his hand tightly. If it was turning purple, he didn't care. Ziva was alive. She wasn't dead. She was squirming like a newborn baby, moaning _his _name. Tony watched as they placed the wet cloth on Ziva's forehead, "That's not gonna help." Tony commented, "She only calms down when you rub this one part on her neck." They all stared at him like he was crazy, "What?" Tony asked, "She does."

"Do it, DiNozzo." Gibbs nodded, and he moved his free hand, the one that wasn't in the death grip of Ziva, to move it behind her neck, purring her name as he rubbed the very base of her neck. He saw a slight smile form on her face as the heart monitor beeping slowed down, back to normal, the Doctor's smiling, relieved, as she stopped thrashing and lay still on the bed, her grip on Tony's hand slowly letting go, but still tinted purple.

"Thank you," one of the nurses said, patting Tony's back as she smiled at him before the other, on the other side of the bed, bent down next to Ziva.

"Ziva? Honey, can you open your eyes?" She groaned, tightened her grip on Tony's hand, and then started to blink them open, "Ziva?" The nurse asked as she blinked a couple more times, her eyes adjusting to her surroundings, "Ms. David? How are you feeling?"

She groaned, "A little out of it…" She weakly said, but then cleared her throat, pain soaring through her body, but she ignored it, "A little tired as well…can I go to sleep again?"

"No!" The nurse answered, a little bit too forcefully, and she smiled, a tight smile, before returning back to a normal, calmer voice, "If you go back to sleep, you may go into another coma."

"_Another_?" Ziva asked, looking around the room at Gibbs, at Tony, and the Doctors, "I was in a coma?"

"Yes, Ms. David. Now tell me, do you remember any of the people in this room?" She asked, and Ziva turned immediately to her right, coming face to face with Tony.

She smiled, "Tony…yes…"

"Good. You didn't lose any of your memory." She turned her head, "Not diagnosed with amnesia!" She called before turning back, "Are you hungry? I bet you should be, I mean, you've been out for at least a week! You probably want to take fluids and food orally, not injected."

"A week?" She gaped.

"Yes, Ziva, a week." They all stopped and turned to look at her father, who finally spoke up, "How could you be so irresponsible, Ziva? You went out, got kidnapped, got abused, in which you did not even fight, and your partner had no idea where you were! Did I not teach you anything, Ziva? Did I not teach you _anything at all _during your training in Mossad? I think that you and I need to-"

"Director David." Gibbs spoke up, "I think we should give Ziva some alone time with Agent DiNozzo. Step outside with me…_now._" Director David muttered to himself before following Gibbs out, along with the other doctors, after they told Tony to 'look for any unusual signs.' Once the doors were closed, Ziva turned to Tony.

"Tony I…I have been out for a week?"

"Felt longer than that, sweetheart." He sighed, stroking the back of her palm, "Felt longer than that."

"You have not slept." She noticed, "And you were…Tony, were you crying?"

He sighed and let go of her hand, standing up and walking towards the window, running his hand over one of the many bouquets of roses. He stopped and stared out the window, at nothing in particular, "I thought you died." He sighed, "I thought I lost you forever. The doctor told me that if you died, the only thing you would remember would be the last words you heard. Which would be mine." He sighed and rummaged through the fresh bouquet of roses.

"You meant that?" Ziva questioned, and Tony plucked a fully budded rose out of the bouquet and walked back over to her, pulling off the thorns before placing it lightly on her chest, placing one hand tentatively on her cheek, the other brushing a piece of hair out from her face and behind her ear.

"When I say something, I always mean it." He said, smiling as he bent down and carefully kissed her forehead. It was light, a simple, caring gesture, but it sent Ziva's heart to do flip-flops in her stomach, and a light smile to play on her face as the kiss burned on her forehead. But it was a good kind of burn.

"Tony…" She breathed, looking up at him.

"Yeah, Ziva?"

"I am feeling very lightheaded…could you get me something?"

"Yeah." Tony said, snapping up into 'commando' mode, "What do you want? Water? Food?"

"I need something to eat." She said, and Tony spun around, trying to find something before he realized he still had a candy bar he had bought from the machine in the lobby a couple of days ago for 'dinner' when he was visiting Ziva.

"Have this." he said, passing her the chocolate goodness. She eagerly took it and almost ripped off the wrapper as she devoured it.

She sighed and leant back against the pillows, "Are you sure I can not go to sleep?" She asked, and Tony immediately shook his head.

"No, you're not going back into that coma. A coma and two emergency surgeries? I don't think so. Not for me again."

"Two emergency surgeries?" She asked, groaning, "I feel terrible, Tony." She breathed, as Tony heard the heart monitor's beeping occasionally rise.

"Calm down, Zi, calm down…shhh…" he cooed, quickly pulling up a chair and sitting down next to her, stroking her head as she blindly went for his hand. She grasped it tightly and pulled it to her chest, holding it close to her body, "Shh…" she eventually relaxed against his arm, which he managed to hook around her shoulders, and she sighed, "Tony, is John dead? Are John and Travis dead?"

"Yeah, they both are. I shot John in the head and then ran Travis over with my car."

She laughed a little, but then groaned, clutching her stomach with Tony's hand and hers, "You decided to finally appreciate my driving?"

"Yeah, I did."

They sat in a silence for a little, just taking in the wonderful fact that the other was alive, "Tony, I am sorry."

"For what?"

"For putting you through all of that. You look so tired. Go to sleep!"

"Ziva, I don't think I can, even with you awake."

"Why not?" She asked, and then sighed as realization came to her, "Why is my father here?"

"Director Vance had to call him because you were in a coma for a week. Guess he felt like he had to take matters in his own hands and 'wake you up' or something." Tony sighed, giving her hand a tight squeeze while running his fingers through her tangled hair, "What did he tell you that made you wake up, if you don't mind me asking?"She sighed and looked down at their hands, grabbing the rose with her other hand and playing with it, spinning it around with her two fingers. Tony could feel her palms getting sweaty.

"Sorry." he said, "You don't have to-"

"No." She cut him off, "I have to tell you." Tony nodded and continued to stare at his partner, "He told me if he I did not wake up, he would take me back to Israel and…"

"And what?" Tony asked, but then scolded himself. He didn't feel like pushing it, but instead, she looked up into his eyes, staring at him, tears threatening to fall.

"Murder you."

**Mwhahha, Director David next chapter! That may be the last, and then a SEQUEL??? *GASP* **

**Okay, so you guys may be wondering why I haven't been updating my other stories...but I have a good reason. Ziva was in a coma for the past couple of chapters, obviously, and I felt that if I wrote another chapter to a story that had Tony and Ziva together, alive, and healthy, that I would lose the 'feel' of writing 'without' Ziva....understand? Kinda? So now that Tony's precious Zi's back, I can write my other stories! :) Review? **


	17. The End

"So can I meet this Ziva?" Recruit Lindsay Trace asked as she sat next to Timothy McGee in the waiting room outside of the ICU unit. They had seen Agent Gibbs literally drag Director David out of the ICU unit and down the hallway, to an unknown place, according to McGee.

"Probably. In fact, I bet you can meet her now. And don't worry. You'll probably be working most of the cases with us, so you won't be moving for a while."

She furrowed her eyebrows together, "What? Ziva won't come back?"

"Oh, she'll be back, don't get me wrong, it's just that she'll probably be stuck with desk work during her 'rehab' session after she's released from the hospital. Which isn't going to hold her back. 'Cause Ziva hates, and I mean _hates _deskwork." He said as they silently walked into the room to find Ziva's arms around Tony' s neck, bandages all over her arms as well as multiple wires sticking out from her. His hands were tangled up in her hair, and his lips were on hers.

"You guys couldn't have waited until she was released from the hospital?" McGee asked as they quickly moved away from each other, Lindsay smiling at them.

"Shut up, McSpy. You and Agent Face…Pace… whatever, what are you doing here?" Tony growled as Ziva studied the brunette next to Tim. She was pretty, confident, but felt very out of place. Of course she stuck to McGee like DiNozzo stuck to movies, but she remembered sticking to McGee when she was first brought onto the team, when Gibbs was still skeptical about her, even though she shot her own half-brother to save his life and Tony wanted nothing to do with her. She could tell that the woman was nervous, but she also noticed that she had no opposing feelings to her. She was solely here because Vance sent here as her replacement, Ziva figured, and she had no intention of becoming friends with Tony, Gibbs, McGee, or her. However, she knew that she was still on-edge with herself, for reasons that were unknown to Ziva. She seemed like a nice enough woman, and Ziva could live with that. Besides, not all new recruits or new agents were bad.

"Hello." Ziva nodded at the new recruit, who shot her head to Ziva, a little fear striking her blue eyes.

"Yes?" She asked.

"I am Ziva David. What's your name?" Ziva decided that formalities would be the best thing to approach this kind of 'meeting new people' topic.

"I'm just the new recruit. Lindsay Trace. I won't be here long. You're back." She gave a sad smile as Gibbs walked into the room.

"Director David wants to talk to you, Ziva." He turned to Tony, "DiNozzo, she ready?"

"The best she's gonna be. Why can't this just wait?" Tony wined, "What the hell does the director want anyways? I'm not leaving, though. Whatever he wants to talk about with Ziva, he'll talk about with me."

Gibbs sighed, "DiNozzo…"

"Boss. I'm staying. With Ziva. Trust me on this one." Gibbs sighed.

"Fine. But if you get your ass kicked by Director David…don't come crying to me. McGee. Trace. Let's go." He motioned them out as Director David came in.

"Agent DiNozzo. Do you mind giving me some time alone with my daughter?" Director David asked, his hands behind his back, staring, okay more like glaring at Tony DiNozzo.

"Yeah, I mind. Sorry Director. It's Agent Gibbs orders that I stay with my partner at all times."

"Yet you weren't with her last week when she was kidnapped." He said, and it felt as if a knife had stabbed Tony through the heart. He hadn't meant not to be there, he had just listened to Ziva. Ziva understood that. He only did it to please Ziva; he didn't want her to feel as if she was being bombarded with him, however he knew that listening to his partner was the wrong thing to do. Normally, he would have followed her and watched her, almost stalked her, like he did when he suspected Michael Locke as a serial killer, however this time was different. He had been too blinded by love, too much of him wanted her to be happy, especially on account of the fact that he had acted mature.

"It was my fault." Ziva spoke up, bringing Tony fully onto the situation and away from his buzzing thoughts, "I told him specifically not to follow me. If Tony had waited until 0220h like I had asked him to, I would probably have been dead before he got to me. Tony did not do anything wrong, Papa. Tony was just following orders. He was just being a good partner. He was concerned. That is only a natural feeling."

"Ziva! You could have died! No! This is not acceptable!"

"She needs to stay calm, Director David."

"Ziva, this is not acceptable. You have gone beyond the ability to have my trust. You are a _Mossad Agent. _You are not an NCIS agent. I will have to have time to think about your punishment."

"Ziva doesn't deserve a punishment. Punishment was going through hell with Travis and John, she doesn't need anymore." Tony spoke up.

"Agent DiNozzo. I will be perfectly honest with you. I do not like you. I do not trust you as an NCIS, especially with my daughter. I can not force you to say away from her, but I will warn you, you have no future with my daughter. I will make sure of it." Director David said before glaring at Tony and then leaving the hospital room.

_One Week Later…_

Ziva was finally released from the hospital. She was barely able to walk, but she managed to walk with Tony's arms wrapped around her to his car and into the NCIS building. She took her seat at her desk, and she smiled.

"I am finally back home." She grinned as she stared across the bullpen at Tony, who had just sat back down in his chair.

"Thank god, everything's back to normal." McGee smiled as he got up and went to give Ziva a hug. Ziva didn't stand up, but she returned his gesture, "Tony will start being himself now."

"Hey!" Tony said in defense, "I was just worried, that's all."

"So I get to finally see the real Tony?" Agent Trace asked as she walked from the fifth desk towards the three. Tony stood up and walked towards Ziva, placing his hands on her shoulders, giving her a slow, warm, soothing massage.

"Yeah, you'll get to see the real Tony DiNozzo. The one that Miss Ziva David loves just so much…" he murmured as he leaned down and grinned as he placed a kiss on her cheek. Agent Trace smiled at the two.

"Officer David." All four agents turned to see Director Vance standing in front of the bullpen, looking at the 'reunion'.

"Yes Director Vance?" She asked.

"You're going home." McGee and Trace looked confused, but Tony looked murderous, and scared.

"Home?" She asked, confused, "I am home. This is my home. Or do you want me to take the rest of the day off?" She looked up and shared a confused look with Tony.

"Director David has just requested your return back home to Israel." He said, walking over and handing her a sheet of paper. None of the agents could move from their spots. Instead, he set it on her desk. All Tony could hear was the pounding of his heart in his ears. She reached up and put a hand on his, which had stopped massaging her shoulders when Director Vance walked in. It was like Déjà vu, except he and McGee weren't going anywhere, and there wasn't any mole. All he knew, however, was that he couldn't lose her again. "Pack your bags, your flight leaves tomorrow."

**THE END**


End file.
